---
title: Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not see a hand's breadth before him, but still they drove on; then he suddenly loosened the cord so that the large sled might go on without him, but it was of no use, his little carriage held fast, and away they went like the wind. Who
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Little Boy and a Little Girl, sentence 68

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not see a hand's breadth before him, but still they drove on; then he suddenly loosened the cord so that the large sled might go on without him, but it was of no use, his little carriage held fast, and away they went like the wind.

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**Who acts:** snow, little boy, boy, fault, large sled, sled · **What happens:** begin, fall, not see, drive, loosen, go on · **To what, where:** breadth, cord, little carriage

<!-- .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 (snow, little boy, boy, fault), 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:pg27200:171:68
# text = Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not see a hand's breadth before him, but still they drove on; then he suddenly loosened the cord so that the large sled might go on without him, but it was of no use, his little carriage held fast, and away they went like the wind.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	heavily	heavily	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	's	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	breadth	breadth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
20	before	before	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	still	still	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	on	on	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
29	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	32	advmod	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	loosened	loosen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	41	mark	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	fixed	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	sled	sled	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
40	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
42	on	on	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	without	without	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
46	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	51	det	_	_
51	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
54	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	appos	_	_
56	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	55	acl	_	_
57	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
60	away	away	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
61	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
62	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
63	like	like	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
65	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the snow |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fall** | to-infinitive | the snow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | heavily *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **see** | could | the little boy | a hand's breadth |  |  | before fault |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer breadth=Stimulus |
| 4 | **drive** | past | boy |  |  |  | still |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **loosen** | past | fault | the cord |  |  | then | suddenly *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **go on** | might | the large sled |  |  |  |  | without fault | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | sled |  |  |  |  | of no use | tree rules |
| 8 | **hold** | participle |  | fault's little carriage *not said here* |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **go** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | like the wind; away *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: 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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