---
title: The little letter contained within it was discovered, taken out, and… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The little letter contained within it was discovered, taken out, and turned and twisted in every direction; but the people could not understand what was written upon it. Who acts: people. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bottle Neck, with its dependency t
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bottle Neck, sentence 84

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little letter contained within it was discovered, taken out, and turned and twisted in every direction; but the people could not understand what was written upon it.

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**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** contain, discover, take out, turn, twist, not understand · **To what, where:** little letter, direction · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bottle Neck. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people), 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:pg27200:13:84
# text = The little letter contained within it was discovered, taken out, and turned and twisted in every direction; but the people could not understand what was written upon it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	contained	contain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	within	within	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	discovered	discover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
11	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	twisted	twist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
19	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	ccomp	_	_
30	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | participle |  | the little letter *not said here* |  |  |  | within letter | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **discover** | past · passive |  | the little letter |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **take out** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **turn** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **twist** | participle |  |  |  | every direction |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in direction=Trajectory |
| 6 | **not** **understand** | could | the people |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **write** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | upon letter | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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