---
title: Then little Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry, but no… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then little Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry, but no one heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her to land, but they flew along by the shore, and sang, as if to comfort her, "Here we are! Who acts: one, sparrows, we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Ande
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then little Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry, but no one heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her to land, but they flew along by the shore, and sang, as if to comfort her, "Here we are!

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**Who acts:** one, sparrows, we · **What happens:** frighten, begin, cry, hear, not carry, fly · **To what, where:** little Gerda, Gerda, land · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, sparrows, we), 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:pg27200:172:21
# text = Then little Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry, but no one heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her to land, but they flew along by the shore, and sang, as if to comfort her, "Here we are!
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	Gerda	Gerda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
18	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	except	except	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
28	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
35	along	along	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	by	by	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
44	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	comfort	comfort	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	ccomp	_	_
47	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	46	advmod	_	_
51	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | little Gerda |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hear** | past | no one | Gerda |  |  |  | except the sparrows | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **carry** | could | sparrows *= sparrow* | Gerda |  | land |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent she=Theme to land=Destination |
| 6 | **fly** | past | sparrows *= sparrow* |  |  |  |  | by the shore; along *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by shore=Location |
| 7 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | sparrows *= sparrow* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **comfort** *a condition, not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | Gerda |  | here |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **be** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «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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