---
title: He glanced, with a very critical eye, at all the flower-beds, and fo… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He glanced, with a very critical eye, at all the flower-beds, and found that the flowers were seated quietly and demurely on their stalks, just as maidens should sit before they are engaged; but there was a great number of them, and it appeared as if his search would become very wearisome. Who acts:
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/15/2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Butterfly](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/15/) / 2

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Butterfly, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He glanced, with a very critical eye, at all the flower-beds, and found that the flowers were seated quietly and demurely on their stalks, just as maidens should sit before they are engaged; but there was a great number of them, and it appeared as if his search would become very wearisome.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** butterfly, maidens, great number, it, search · **What happens:** glance, find, seat, sit, engage, be · **To what, where:** flowers, stalks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Butterfly. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (butterfly, maidens, great number, it), 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:pg27200:15:2
# text = He glanced, with a very critical eye, at all the flower-beds, and found that the flowers were seated quietly and demurely on their stalks, just as maidens should sit before they are engaged; but there was a great number of them, and it appeared as if his search would become very wearisome.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	glanced	glance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	critical	critical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	beds	bed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	seated	seat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	ccomp	_	_
24	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	demurely	demurely	ADV	RB	_	24	conj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	stalks	stalk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	just	just	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	maidens	maiden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nsubj	_	_
34	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
36	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	_
41	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	43	expl	_	_
43	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
53	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
54	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
57	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	advcl	_	_
59	very	very	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
60	wearisome	wearisome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glance** | past | butterfly |  |  |  |  | with a critical eye; at all flower beds | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at bed=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | past | butterfly *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **seat** | past · passive |  | the flowers |  | flowers's stalks |  | quietly *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Value |
| 4 | **sit** | should | maidens |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **engage** | present · passive |  | flowers *= flower* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **be** | past | a great number of flowers |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **appear** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **become** | would | butterfly's search |  |  |  |  | wearisome *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **search** |  | butterfly |  |  |  |  |  | nom search «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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/15/1/)
- next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/15/3/)
- ↑ back to [The Butterfly](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/15/)