---
title: They could be quite sure that the bottle had been thrown overboard f… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: They could be quite sure that the bottle had been thrown overboard from a vessel, and that something about it was written on this paper: but what was written? that was the question,--so the paper was put back into the bottle, and then both were put away in a large cupboard of one of the great houses
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bottle Neck, sentence 85

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They could be quite sure that the bottle had been thrown overboard from a vessel, and that something about it was written on this paper: but what was written? that was the question,--so the paper was put back into the bottle, and then both were put away in a large cupboard of one of the great houses of the town.

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**Who acts:** people, that · **What happens:** be, throw, write, put back, put away · **To what, where:** bottle, vessel, something, paper, question, both

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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, that), 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:pg27200:13:85
# text = They could be quite sure that the bottle had been thrown overboard from a vessel, and that something about it was written on this paper: but what was written? that was the question,--so the paper was put back into the bottle, and then both were put away in a large cupboard of one of the great houses of the town.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bottle	bottle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
12	overboard	overboard	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	about	about	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nmod	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	_
33	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	so	so	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
44	back	back	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	into	into	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	bottle	bottle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
50	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	53	advmod	_	_
51	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
54	away	away	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
55	in	in	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	cupboard	cupboard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	58	nmod	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nmod	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | could | people |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **throw** | past · perfect · passive |  | the bottle |  | a vessel |  | overboard *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: subject=Theme from vessel=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **write** | past · passive |  | something |  | this paper |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on paper=Destination |
| 4 | **write** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | past | that | the question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **put back** | past · passive |  | the paper |  | the bottle |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: subject=Goal |
| 7 | **put away** | past · passive |  | both |  | a large cupboard of one of the great houses of the town | then | away *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in cupboard=Destination |

<!-- .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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