---
title: The trunk, it is true, was cleft in the middle from the root to the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The trunk, it is true, was cleft in the middle from the root to the crown; the storms had bent it a little, but it still stood there, and out of every crevice and cleft, in which wind and weather had carried mould, blades of grass and flowers sprang forth. Who acts: trunk, blades. A sentence of «Fai
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Everything in the Right Place, sentence 47

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The trunk, it is true, was cleft in the middle from the root to the crown; the storms had bent it a little, but it still stood there, and out of every crevice and cleft, in which wind and weather had carried mould, blades of grass and flowers sprang forth.

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**Who acts:** trunk, blades · **What happens:** be, bend, stand, carry, sprang · **To what, where:** middle, storms, wind, carried mould, crevice

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Everything in the Right Place. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trunk, blades), 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:pg27200:155:47
# text = The trunk, it is true, was cleft in the middle from the root to the crown; the storms had bent it a little, but it still stood there, and out of every crevice and cleft, in which wind and weather had carried mould, blades of grass and flowers sprang forth.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	cleft	cleft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	crown	crown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	storms	storm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	bent	bend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	still	still	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
32	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	38	det	_	_
38	crevice	crevice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	cleft	cleft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	48	obl	_	_
44	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	conj	_	_
47	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	amod	_	_
49	mould	mould	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
51	blades	blade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nsubj	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nmod	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	conj	_	_
56	sprang	sprang	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
57	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the trunk |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | the trunk *not said here* |  |  | the middle |  | from the root to the crown; cleft *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **bend** | past · perfect · passive |  | the storms |  |  |  | a little *obl:unmarked* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Patient it=Result |
| 4 | **stand** | past | trunk |  |  | there | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **carry** | past · perfect · passive |  | wind and weather |  | carried mould |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Value in which=Location |
| 6 | **sprang** | present | blades of grass and flowers |  |  | every crevice and cleft and carried mould |  | forth *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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