--- title: It is hardly known how, but the people say--yes, people say a great… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: It is hardly known how, but the people say--yes, people say a great many things when they are frightened or want to frighten others--they say that the old dead choir-men glide silently past us into the church, where mass is sung. Who acts: people, old dead choir men. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Ha --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/12/11/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Bishop of Borglum and His Warriors](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/12/) / 11 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bishop of Borglum and His Warriors, sentence 11 It is hardly known how, but the people say--yes, people say a great many things when they are frightened or want to frighten others--they say that the old dead choir-men glide silently past us into the church, where mass is sung. **Who acts:** people, old dead choir men · **What happens:** know, say, frighten, want, glide, sing · **To what, where:** staircase, great many things, people, others, church, mass · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bishop of Borglum and His Warriors. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, old dead choir men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:12:11 # text = It is hardly known how, but the people say--yes, people say a great many things when they are frightened or want to frighten others--they say that the old dead choir-men glide silently past us into the church, where mass is sung. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 2 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux:pass _ _ 3 hardly hardly ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 known know VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 7 but but CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ _ 10 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 11 -- -- PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 yes yes INTJ UH Polarity=Pos 15 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 14 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ _ 15 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 17 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 18 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obj _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 23 advmod _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj:pass _ _ 22 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux:pass _ _ 23 frightened frighten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 15 advcl _ _ 24 or or CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 26 to to PART TO _ 27 mark _ _ 27 frighten frighten VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 xcomp _ _ 28 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 -- -- PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 32 that that SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 34 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 35 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 36 choir choir NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 37 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nsubj _ _ 39 glide glide VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 ccomp _ _ 40 silently silently ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 41 past past ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 obl _ _ 43 into into ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 church church NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 47 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 50 advmod _ _ 48 mass mass NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nsubj:pass _ _ 49 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 50 aux:pass _ _ 50 sung sing VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **know** | present · passive | | staircase | | | | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the people | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | people | a great many things | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent thing=Topic | | 4 | **frighten** | present · passive | | people | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | | 5 | **want** | present | | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 6 | **frighten** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | others | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus other=Experiencer | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | people | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **glide** | present | the old dead choir men | | | the church | | past us; silently *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme past we=Source into church=Trajectory | | 9 | **sing** *speech: express* | present · passive | | mass | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/12/10/) - next →: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/12/12/) - ↑ back to [The Bishop of Borglum and His Warriors](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/12/)