---
title: The brassy knobs on the railings shone more brightly than ever, as i… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The brassy knobs on the railings shone more brightly than ever, as if they had been polished on account of his visit; and on the door were carved trumpeters standing in tulips, and it seemed as if they were blowing with all their might, their cheeks were so puffed out. " Who acts: brassy knobs, trum
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old House, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The brassy knobs on the railings shone more brightly than ever, as if they had been polished on account of his visit; and on the door were carved trumpeters standing in tulips, and it seemed as if they were blowing with all their might, their cheeks were so puffed out. "

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**Who acts:** brassy knobs, trumpeters, it, knobs, attendant · **What happens:** shine, polish, carve, stand, seem, blow · **To what, where:** knobs, account, trumpeters, door, tulips, cheeks

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old House. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brassy knobs, trumpeters, it, knobs), 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:pg27200:131:27
# text = The brassy knobs on the railings shone more brightly than ever, as if they had been polished on account of his visit; and on the door were carved trumpeters standing in tulips, and it seemed as if they were blowing with all their might, their cheeks were so puffed out. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	brassy	brassy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	knobs	knob	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	railings	railing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	shone	shine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
9	brightly	brightly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	polished	polish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	visit	visit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	carved	carve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	parataxis	_	_
31	trumpeters	trumpeter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	_
32	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	acl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	tulips	tulip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
39	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
40	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	blowing	blow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	53	advcl	_	_
44	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	47	det:predet	_	_
46	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
49	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	cheeks	cheek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
51	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux:pass	_	_
52	so	so	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	puffed	puff	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	xcomp	_	_
54	out	out	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
56	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine** | past | the brassy knobs on the railings |  |  |  |  | brightly *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **polish** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | knobs *= knob* |  | account of attendant's visit |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination |
| 3 | **carve** | past · passive |  | trumpeters |  | the door |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: trumpeter=Theme on door=Destination |
| 4 | **stand** | gerund | trumpeters *not said here* |  |  | tulips |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in tulip=Location |
| 5 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 6 | **blow** | past · progressive | knobs *= knob* |  |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **puff out** | past · passive |  | knobs's cheeks |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Source |
| 8 | **account** |  |  | attendant's visit |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **visit** |  | attendant |  |  |  |  |  | nom visit «act 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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