---
title: A river, clear as the air itself, sparkled at their feet, while in i… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: A river, clear as the air itself, sparkled at their feet, while in its clear depths could be seen gold and silver fish sporting in the bright water, and purple eels emitting sparks of fire at every moment, while the broad leaves of the water-lilies, that floated on its surface, flickered with all th
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Garden of Paradise, sentence 163

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A river, clear as the air itself, sparkled at their feet, while in its clear depths could be seen gold and silver fish sporting in the bright water, and purple eels emitting sparks of fire at every moment, while the broad leaves of the water-lilies, that floated on its surface, flickered with all the colors of the rainbow.

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**Who acts:** river, silver fish, purple eels, water lilies, fire · **What happens:** sparkle, see, sport, emit, float, flicker · **To what, where:** feet, gold, clear depths, bright water, sparks, surface

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Garden of Paradise. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (river, silver fish, purple eels, water lilies), 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:pg27200:140:163
# text = A river, clear as the air itself, sparkled at their feet, while in its clear depths could be seen gold and silver fish sporting in the bright water, and purple eels emitting sparks of fire at every moment, while the broad leaves of the water-lilies, that floated on its surface, flickered with all the colors of the rainbow.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	sparkled	sparkle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
15	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	depths	depth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
23	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
27	sporting	sport	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	acl	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
34	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	eels	eel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	emitting	emit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	acl	_	_
37	sparks	spark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	42	det	_	_
42	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
50	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	lilies	lily	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
55	floated	float	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	acl:relcl	_	_
56	on	on	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
60	flickered	flicker	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
61	with	with	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
62	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	64	det:predet	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	colors	color	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	rainbow	rainbow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sparkle** | participle | a river |  |  | mountains's feet |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at foot=Location |
| 2 | **see** | could · passive | a river *not said here* | gold and silver fish |  | air's clear depths |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: gold=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sport** | gerund | silver fish *not said here* |  |  | the bright water |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **emit** | gerund | purple eels and the broad leaves of the water lilies *not said here* | sparks of fire |  |  | moment |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Source spark=Theme |
| 5 | **float** | past | the water lilies |  |  | air's surface |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on surface=Trajectory |
| 6 | **flicker** | participle · passive |  | purple eels and the broad leaves of the water lilies |  |  |  | with all colors of the rainbow | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **spark** |  | fire |  |  |  |  |  | nom spark «event intransitive»: of=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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