---
title: When one of these tiny atoms flew into a person's eye, it stuck ther… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: When one of these tiny atoms flew into a person's eye, it stuck there unknown to him, and from that moment he saw everything through a distorted medium, or could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirro
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Story the First. Which describes a looking-glass and the broken fragments, sentence 11

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When one of these tiny atoms flew into a person's eye, it stuck there unknown to him, and from that moment he saw everything through a distorted medium, or could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirror.

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**Who acts:** one, glass, person, smallest fragment, same power · **What happens:** fly, stick, see, distort, look, retain · **To what, where:** eye, everything, distorted medium, worst side, same power

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Story the First. Which describes a looking-glass and the broken fragments. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, glass, person, smallest fragment), 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:pg27200:170:11
# text = When one of these tiny atoms flew into a person's eye, it stuck there unknown to him, and from that moment he saw everything through a distorted medium, or could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirror.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
5	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	stuck	stick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
17	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
24	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
27	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	26	obj	_	_
28	through	through	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	distorted	distort	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	amod	_	_
31	medium	medium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
36	only	only	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	39	amod	_	_
39	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	nmod	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl:relcl	_	_
44	at	at	ADP	IN	_	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
46	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
47	even	even	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	50	amod	_	_
50	fragment	fragment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
51	retained	retain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
55	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	_
56	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	belonged	belong	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	acl:relcl	_	_
58	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | one of this tiny atoms |  |  |  |  | into a person's eye *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into eye=Result |
| 2 | **stick** | past | glass |  |  |  |  | unknown *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **see** | past | person | everything |  | a distorted medium | moment |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer everything=Stimulus |
| 4 | **distort** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP.material V PP.product»: agent=Material |
| 5 | **see** | could | person *not said here* | the worst side |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer side=Stimulus |
| 6 | **look** | past | person |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 7 | **retain** | past | the smallest fragment | the same power |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **belong** | past · perfect | the same power |  |  |  |  | to the whole mirror | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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