---
title: The clouds gathered, and the rain poured down as if the sky had been… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The clouds gathered, and the rain poured down as if the sky had been a waterspout; and it was as dark as the bottom of a well at midnight; sometimes he slipped over the smooth grass, or fell over stones that projected out of the rocky ground. Who acts: clouds, rain, sky, stones. A sentence of «Fairy
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Garden of Paradise, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The clouds gathered, and the rain poured down as if the sky had been a waterspout; and it was as dark as the bottom of a well at midnight; sometimes he slipped over the smooth grass, or fell over stones that projected out of the rocky ground.

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**Who acts:** clouds, rain, sky, stones · **What happens:** gather, pour down, be, slip, fall, project · **To what, where:** waterspout, smooth grass, stones, rocky ground

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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 (clouds, rain, sky, stones), 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:pg27200:140:8
# text = The clouds gathered, and the rain poured down as if the sky had been a waterspout; and it was as dark as the bottom of a well at midnight; sometimes he slipped over the smooth grass, or fell over stones that projected out of the rocky ground.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	poured	pour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	waterspout	waterspout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
33	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	35	advmod	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
36	over	over	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
43	over	over	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	_
45	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	nsubj	_	_
46	projected	project	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
47	out	out	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	rocky	rocky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | past | the clouds |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **pour down** | participle | the rain |  |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |
| 3 | **is a** | past · perfect | the sky | a waterspout |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | sky |  |  |  |  | as the bottom of a well at midnight; dark *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **slip** | past | rain |  |  | the smooth grass |  | sometimes *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **fall** | past | rain *not said here* |  |  | stones |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over stone=Location |
| 7 | **project** | past | stones |  |  | the rocky ground |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out ground=Location |

<!-- .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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