---
title: My rays pierced through the grated window towards the wall; the pris… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: My rays pierced through the grated window towards the wall; the prisoner was scratching a few lines upon it, as a parting token; but he did not write words, but a melody, the outpouring of his heart. Who acts: rays, prisoner, My. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Anders
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Thirty-first Evening, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My rays pierced through the grated window towards the wall; the prisoner was scratching a few lines upon it, as a parting token; but he did not write words, but a melody, the outpouring of his heart.

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**Who acts:** rays, prisoner, My · **What happens:** pierce, grate, scratch, not write, ray · **To what, where:** melody, few lines, wall, words

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Thirty-first Evening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rays, prisoner, My), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:122:5
# text = My rays pierced through the grated window towards the wall; the prisoner was scratching a few lines upon it, as a parting token; but he did not write words, but a melody, the outpouring of his heart.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	rays	ray	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pierced	pierce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	grated	grate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	prisoner	prisoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	scratching	scratch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	parting	parting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	token	token	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
32	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	melody	melody	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	outpouring	outpouring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	appos	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pierce** | participle | My rays | a melody |  |  |  | through the grated window towards the wall | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent through window=Patient |
| 2 | **grate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appeal-31.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **scratch** | past · progressive | the prisoner | a few lines |  | wall |  | as a parting token | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent line=Patient upon it=Location |
| 4 | **not** **write** | past · do-support | prisoner | words |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 5 | **ray** |  | My |  |  |  |  |  | nom ray «phenomenon 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:** «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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