---
title: It is quite true that they dwelt in a cellar, two yards deep in the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It is quite true that they dwelt in a cellar, two yards deep in the earth, and they had to cross a stone passage to get to their room, but within it was warm and comfortable and strips of list had been nailed round the door. Who acts: service, people. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian And
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Street Lamp, sentence 81

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It is quite true that they dwelt in a cellar, two yards deep in the earth, and they had to cross a stone passage to get to their room, but within it was warm and comfortable and strips of list had been nailed round the door.

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**Who acts:** service, people · **What happens:** be, dwell, have, cross, get, nail · **To what, where:** cellar, two yards, earth, stone passage, strips

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Street Lamp. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (service, people), 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:pg27200:133:81
# text = It is quite true that they dwelt in a cellar, two yards deep in the earth, and they had to cross a stone passage to get to their room, but within it was warm and comfortable and strips of list had been nailed round the door.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	dwelt	dwell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cellar	cellar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	yards	yard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	within	within	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
37	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	comfortable	comfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	conj	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
41	strips	strip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	list	list	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
44	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	46	aux:pass	_	_
46	nailed	nail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	conj	_	_
47	round	round	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | service |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dwell** | past | people |  |  | a cellar |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cellar=Location |
| 3 | **be** |  | service *not said here* | two yards |  | the earth |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **cross** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | a stone passage |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent passage=Patient |
| 6 | **get** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | a stone passage *not said here* |  |  |  | to people's room *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to room=Result |
| 7 | **is** | past | service |  |  |  |  | warm *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** |  | service *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **nail** | past · perfect · passive |  | strips of list |  |  |  | round the door | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=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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