---
title: "The air was calm," said the Moon; "the water was transparent as the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "The air was calm," said the Moon; "the water was transparent as the purest ether through which I was gliding, and deep below the surface I could see the strange plants that stretched up their long arms towards me like the gigantic trees of the forest. Who acts: air, Moon, water, strange plants. A s
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Twenty-seventh Evening, sentence 1

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"The air was calm," said the Moon; "the water was transparent as the purest ether through which I was gliding, and deep below the surface I could see the strange plants that stretched up their long arms towards me like the gigantic trees of the forest.

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**Who acts:** air, Moon, water, strange plants · **What happens:** be, say, glide, see, stretch up · **To what, where:** purest ether, surface, strange plants, long arms · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Twenty-seventh Evening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (air, Moon, water, strange plants), 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:pg27200:118:1
# text = "The air was calm," said the Moon; "the water was transparent as the purest ether through which I was gliding, and deep below the surface I could see the strange plants that stretched up their long arms towards me like the gigantic trees of the forest.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	calm	calm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	transparent	transparent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
17	as	as	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	purest	pure	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	ether	ether	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	through	through	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obl	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	gliding	glide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
29	below	below	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
38	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
39	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
40	up	up	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
42	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obj	_	_
44	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	_
46	like	like	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	gigantic	gigantic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the air |  |  |  |  | calm *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Moon |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the water |  |  |  |  | as the purest ether; transparent *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **glide** *in a quote* | past · progressive | the Moon *= moon* |  |  | the purest ether |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through which=Trajectory |
| 5 | **be** *in a quote* |  | the water *not said here* |  |  | the surface |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** *in a quote* | could | the Moon *= moon* | the strange plants |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer plant=Stimulus |
| 7 | **stretch up** *in a quote* | past | the strange plants | plants's long arms |  |  |  | towards the Moon *= moon*; like the gigantic trees of the forest | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent arm=Patient towards i=Recipient |

<!-- .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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