---
title: They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces. Who acts: world, glass. A sentence of «Fa
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Story the First. Which describes a looking-glass and the broken fragments, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces.

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**Who acts:** world, glass · **What happens:** want, fly up, see, fly, become, hold · **To what, where:** angels, glass, millions

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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 (world, glass), 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:pg27200:170:9
# text = They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	even	even	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	angels	angel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	_
23	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	till	till	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	obl	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
40	from	from	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
44	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
50	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux:pass	_	_
51	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
52	into	into	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	millions	million	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | world |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **fly up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | world *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with mirror; to heaven *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to heaven=Result |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | world *not said here* | the angels |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer angel=Stimulus |
| 4 | **fly** | past | world |  |  |  |  | slippery *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **become** | past | the glass |  |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **hold** | could | world | glass |  |  | till last | scarcely *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 7 | **slip** | past | glass |  |  |  |  | from world's hands | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from hand=Co-Patient |
| 8 | **fall** | past | glass *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the earth | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to earth=Theme |
| 9 | **break** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | into millions of pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: into million=Result |

<!-- .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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