---
title: A comedy was being performed in it, and all the queens of diamonds,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: A comedy was being performed in it, and all the queens of diamonds, clubs, and hearts, and spades, sat in the first row fanning themselves with tulips, and behind them stood all the knaves, showing that they had heads above and below as playing cards generally have. Who acts: spades. A sentence of «
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Shepherdess and the Sheep, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A comedy was being performed in it, and all the queens of diamonds, clubs, and hearts, and spades, sat in the first row fanning themselves with tulips, and behind them stood all the knaves, showing that they had heads above and below as playing cards generally have.

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**Who acts:** spades · **What happens:** perform, sit, fan, stand, show, have · **To what, where:** comedy, theatre, first row, spades, knaves, heads · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Shepherdess and the Sheep. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spades), 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:pg27200:166:35
# text = A comedy was being performed in it, and all the queens of diamonds, clubs, and hearts, and spades, sat in the first row fanning themselves with tulips, and behind them stood all the knaves, showing that they had heads above and below as playing cards generally have.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	comedy	comedy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	performed	perform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	queens	queen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	diamonds	diamond	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	clubs	club	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	spades	spade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	28	amod	_	_
28	row	row	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	fanning	fan	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
30	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	tulips	tulip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
37	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
38	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	40	det:predet	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	knaves	knave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
42	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	advcl	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	ccomp	_	_
46	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obj	_	_
47	above	above	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	below	below	ADV	RB	_	47	conj	_	_
50	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	_
52	cards	card	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obj	_	_
53	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
54	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perform** | past · passive |  | a comedy |  | theatre |  | all queens of diamonds and clubs and hearts *obl* | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **sit** | past | spades |  |  | the first row |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in row=Location |
| 3 | **fan** | gerund | spades *not said here* | spades *= spade* |  |  |  | with tulips | tree rules |
| 4 | **stand** | past |  | all knaves |  |  |  | behind spades *= spade* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent knave=Theme behind they=Destination |
| 5 | **show** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **have** | past | spades *= spade* | heads |  |  |  | above *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 7 | **play** | gerund |  | cards |  |  |  | generally *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent card=Theme |
| 8 | **have** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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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