--- title: A short time ago, as she was sitting on her throne, which people say… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: A short time ago, as she was sitting on her throne, which people say is not such an agreeable seat as is often supposed, she began to sing a song which commences in these words: Who acts: princess, people, song. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Prince and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/173/20/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Prince and Princess](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/173/) / 20 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Prince and Princess, sentence 20 A short time ago, as she was sitting on her throne, which people say is not such an agreeable seat as is often supposed, she began to sing a song which commences in these words: **Who acts:** princess, people, song · **What happens:** sit, say, not be, suppose, begin, sing · **To what, where:** throne, song, words · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Prince and Princess. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, people, song), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:173:20 # text = A short time ago, as she was sitting on her throne, which people say is not such an agreeable seat as is often supposed, she began to sing a song which commences in these words: 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl:unmarked _ _ 4 ago ago ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 6 as as SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 7 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 sitting sit VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 29 advcl _ _ 10 on on ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 throne throne NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 16 obj _ _ 15 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 nsubj _ _ 16 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 acl:relcl _ _ 17 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 cop _ _ 18 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 19 advmod _ _ 19 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP 22 case _ _ 20 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 agreeable agreeable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 seat seat NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 23 as as SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 24 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux:pass _ _ 25 often often ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 supposed suppose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 9 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 28 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 sing sing VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 song song NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 35 commences commence VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 acl:relcl _ _ 36 in in ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 38 det _ _ 38 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 : : PUNCT : _ 29 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | princess | | | princess's throne | | such a agreeable seat | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on throne=Location | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | people | princess's throne | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent which=Topic | | 3 | **not** **is** | present | | | | | | such *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **suppose** | present · passive | princess *not said here* | | | | | often *property* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S» | | 5 | **begin** | past | princess | | | | | ago *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | princess *not said here* | a song | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme | | 7 | **commence** | present | a song | | | this words | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/173/19/) - next →: [sentence 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/173/21/) - ↑ back to [The Prince and Princess](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/173/)