---
title: The Selenites* disputed variously about our earth, and expressed the… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The Selenites* disputed variously about our earth, and expressed their doubts if it could be inhabited: the air, they said, must certainly be too dense to allow any rational dweller in the moon the necessary free respiration. Who acts: Selenites. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Ander
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shoes of Fortune, part 2, sentence 114

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The Selenites\* disputed variously about our earth, and expressed their doubts if it could be inhabited: the air, they said, must certainly be too dense to allow any rational dweller in the moon the necessary free respiration.

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**Who acts:** Selenites · **What happens:** dispute, express, inhabit, say, be, allow · **To what, where:** air, doubts, spirit, rational dweller, moon · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shoes of Fortune, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Selenites), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg1597:6:114
# text = The Selenites* disputed variously about our earth, and expressed their doubts if it could be inhabited: the air, they said, must certainly be too dense to allow any rational dweller in the moon the necessary free respiration.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Selenites	Selenite	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	*	*	PUNCT	NFP	_	4	punct	_	_
4	disputed	dispute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	variously	variously	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	expressed	express	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	doubts	doubt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	inhabited	inhabit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
27	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
29	too	too	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
33	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	35	det	_	_
34	rational	rational	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	dweller	dweller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	moon	moon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
40	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
41	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	respiration	respiration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dispute** | participle | the Selenites | the air |  |  |  | about our earth; variously *property* | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.theme NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent about earth=Theme |
| 2 | **express** | past | the Selenites *not said here* | Selenites's doubts |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent doubt=Theme |
| 3 | **inhabit** *a condition, not said to happen* | could · passive |  | spirit |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Selenites *= selenite* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | must |  |  |  |  |  | certainly, dense *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **allow** | to-infinitive |  | any rational dweller |  | the moon |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent dweller=Goal respiration=Theme |
| 7 | **doubt** |  | Selenites *= selenite* |  |  |  |  |  | nom doubt «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 1597 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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