---
title: The wind is sharp as a two-edged sword, the snow-flakes chase each o… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The wind is sharp as a two-edged sword, the snow-flakes chase each other; it seems as though it had been snowing for days and weeks, and the snow lies like a great mountain over the whole town, like a heavy dream of the winter night. Who acts: wind, snow flakes, it, snow. A sentence of «Fairy Tales 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bird of Popular Song, sentence 37

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The wind is sharp as a two-edged sword, the snow-flakes chase each other; it seems as though it had been snowing for days and weeks, and the snow lies like a great mountain over the whole town, like a heavy dream of the winter night.

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**Who acts:** wind, snow flakes, it, snow · **What happens:** be, edge, chase, seem, snow, lie · **To what, where:** each, whole town, winter night

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bird of Popular Song. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wind, snow flakes, it, snow), 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:pg27200:11:37
# text = The wind is sharp as a two-edged sword, the snow-flakes chase each other; it seems as though it had been snowing for days and weeks, and the snow lies like a great mountain over the whole town, like a heavy dream of the winter night.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	edged	edge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	flakes	flake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	chase	chase	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	16	obj	_	_
18	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	aux	_	_
27	snowing	snow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	lies	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
37	like	like	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
41	over	over	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	like	like	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	acl:relcl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	compound	_	_
53	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the wind |  |  |  |  | as a edged sword; sharp *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **edge** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **chase** | present | the snow flakes | each |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent each=Theme |
| 4 | **seem** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **snow** | past · perfect · progressive | it |  |  |  | day |  | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme» |
| 6 | **lie** | present | the snow |  |  | the whole town |  | like a great mountain | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over town=Location |
| 7 | **dream** |  |  | the winter night |  |  |  |  | nom dream «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (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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