---
title: "It seems to me as if somebody were behind us," said Gerda, as somet… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "It seems to me as if somebody were behind us," said Gerda, as something rushed by her like a shadow on the wall, and then horses with flying manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback, glided by her, like shadows on the wall. Who acts: It, somebody, Gerda. A sentence of «Fairy 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Prince and Princess, sentence 84

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"It seems to me as if somebody were behind us," said Gerda, as something rushed by her like a shadow on the wall, and then horses with flying manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback, glided by her, like shadows on the wall.

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**Who acts:** It, somebody, Gerda · **What happens:** seem, be, say, rush, fly, glide · **To what, where:** Gerda, wall · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (It, somebody, Gerda), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:173:84
# text = "It seems to me as if somebody were behind us," said Gerda, as something rushed by her like a shadow on the wall, and then horses with flying manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback, glided by her, like shadows on the wall.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	somebody	somebody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	Gerda	Gerda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	as	as	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	14	obl	_	_
19	rushed	rush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	like	like	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
31	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	amod	_	_
34	manes	manis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	hunters	hunter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	gentlemen	gentleman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	_
44	on	on	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	horseback	horseback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	glided	glide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
48	by	by	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	like	like	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	_
53	on	on	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** *in a quote* | present | It |  | Gerda |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | somebody |  |  |  |  | as us | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Gerda |  |  |  |  | as something | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **rush** | participle |  |  |  | the wall |  | by Gerda; like a shadow | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by she=Trajectory |
| 5 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **glide** | participle | Gerda *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by Gerda; like shadows on the wall | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by she=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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