---
title: The prison was in a town at a great distance, and the wind was contr… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The prison was in a town at a great distance, and the wind was contrary for going there by sea; but it would not take half an hour to get across the bay, and another quarter of an hour would bring them to Norre-Vosborg, the great castle with ramparts and moat. Who acts: prison, wind, it, quarter. A 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Story From the Sand-hills, part 4, sentence 23

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The prison was in a town at a great distance, and the wind was contrary for going there by sea; but it would not take half an hour to get across the bay, and another quarter of an hour would bring them to Norre-Vosborg, the great castle with ramparts and moat.

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**Who acts:** prison, wind, it, quarter · **What happens:** be, go, not take, get, bring · **To what, where:** town, bay, fishermen, Norre

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, A Story From the Sand-hills, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prison, wind, it, quarter), 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:pg27200:161:23
# text = The prison was in a town at a great distance, and the wind was contrary for going there by sea; but it would not take half an hour to get across the bay, and another quarter of an hour would bring them to Norre-Vosborg, the great castle with ramparts and moat.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	contrary	contrary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
17	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
18	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
19	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
28	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	30	det:predet	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
33	across	across	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bay	bay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
38	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	39	det	_	_
39	quarter	quarter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	Norre	Norre	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	Vosborg	Vosborg	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	appos	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	ramparts	rampart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nmod	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	moat	moat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the prison |  |  | a town |  | at a great distance | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | the wind |  |  |  |  | contrary *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | gerund | the wind *not said here* |  |  | there |  | by sea | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by sea=Location |
| 4 | **not** **take** | would | it |  |  |  | hour |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the bay |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme across bay=Destination |
| 6 | **bring** | would | another quarter of a hour | fishermen *= fisherman* | Norre and Vosborg |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to norre=Destination |

<!-- .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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