---
title: But then they would warm copper pennies on the stove, and hold the w… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But then they would warm copper pennies on the stove, and hold the warm pennies against the frozen pane; there would be very soon a little round hole through which they could peep, and the soft bright eyes of the little boy and girl would beam through the hole at each window as they looked at each o
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Little Boy and a Little Girl, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But then they would warm copper pennies on the stove, and hold the warm pennies against the frozen pane; there would be very soon a little round hole through which they could peep, and the soft bright eyes of the little boy and girl would beam through the hole at each window as they looked at each other.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** peas, soft bright eyes · **What happens:** warm, hold, freeze, be, peep, beam · **To what, where:** copper pennies, stove, warm pennies, frozen pane, hole

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, A Little Boy and a Little Girl. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (peas, soft bright eyes), 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:pg27200:171:11
# text = But then they would warm copper pennies on the stove, and hold the warm pennies against the frozen pane; there would be very soon a little round hole through which they could peep, and the soft bright eyes of the little boy and girl would beam through the hole at each window as they looked at each other.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	warm	warm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	copper	copper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	pennies	penny	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	stove	stove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	pennies	penny	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
17	against	against	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	amod	_	_
20	pane	pane	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	24	expl	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
25	very	very	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
31	through	through	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	obl	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	peep	peep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
39	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
40	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	beam	beam	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
50	through	through	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
53	at	at	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	55	det	_	_
55	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
56	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
57	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	_
59	at	at	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	58	obl	_	_
61	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **warm** | would | peas *= pea* | copper pennies |  | the stove | then |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent penny=Patient |
| 2 | **hold** | present |  | the warm pennies |  | the frozen pane |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent penny=Theme against pane=Location |
| 3 | **freeze** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **be** | would |  |  |  | there |  | soon *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **peep** | could | peas *= pea* |  |  |  |  | through a little round hole | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through which=Theme |
| 6 | **beam** | would | the soft bright eyes of the little boy and girl |  |  | the hole |  | at each window | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through hole=Location |
| 7 | **look** | past | peas *= pea* |  |  |  |  | at each | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at each=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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