---
title: The young ones above and below--those below were really only shadows… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The young ones above and below--those below were really only shadows in the water--were sparrows; their parents were sparrows too, and had taken possession of the empty swallows' nest of last year, and now lived in it as if it were their own property. Who acts: those, young ones, parents, sparrows. 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, sentence 15

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The young ones above and below--those below were really only shadows in the water--were sparrows; their parents were sparrows too, and had taken possession of the empty swallows' nest of last year, and now lived in it as if it were their own property.

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**Who acts:** those, young ones, parents, sparrows, possession · **What happens:** be, take, live, possess · **To what, where:** shadows, water, sparrows, possession, nest

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Neighbouring Families. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (those, young ones, parents, sparrows), 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:pg27200:124:15
# text = The young ones above and below--those below were really only shadows in the water--were sparrows; their parents were sparrows too, and had taken possession of the empty swallows' nest of last year, and now lived in it as if it were their own property.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
4	above	above	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	below	below	ADV	RB	_	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	13	nsubj	_	_
9	below	below	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	really	really	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
25	too	too	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl	_	_
30	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	swallows	swallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	'	's	PART	POS	_	34	case	_	_
36	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
43	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obl	_	_
46	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	52	case	_	_
47	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	46	fixed	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
49	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	cop	_	_
50	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
51	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | those | shadows |  | the water |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the young ones and shadows | sparrows and sparrows |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | sparrows's parents | sparrows |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **take** | past · perfect | sparrows and sparrows *not said here* | possession of the empty swallows's nest of last year |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent possession=Theme |
| 5 | **live** | past |  |  |  | nest | now |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in it=Location |
| 6 | **is** | past | possession |  |  |  |  | as parents's own property | tree rules |
| 7 | **possess** |  |  | the empty swallows's nest of last year |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act 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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