---
title: Above them, on laths and perches, were more than a hundred pigeons,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Above them, on laths and perches, were more than a hundred pigeons, who all seemed to be asleep, although they moved slightly when the two little girls came near them. " Who acts: laths, hundred pigeons, two little girls. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Litt
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Little Robber-girl, sentence 26

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Above them, on laths and perches, were more than a hundred pigeons, who all seemed to be asleep, although they moved slightly when the two little girls came near them. "

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**Who acts:** laths, hundred pigeons, two little girls · **What happens:** be, seem, move, come · **To what, where:** hundred pigeons

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Little Robber-girl. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (laths, hundred pigeons, two little girls), 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:pg27200:174:26
# text = Above them, on laths and perches, were more than a hundred pigeons, who all seemed to be asleep, although they moved slightly when the two little girls came near them. "
1	Above	above	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	laths	lath	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	perches	perch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
10	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	13	advmod	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	pigeons	pigeon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	all	all	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	cop	_	_
21	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
26	slightly	slightly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
30	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
32	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
33	near	near	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | laths and perches | hundred pigeons |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **seem** | past | hundred pigeons |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | hundred pigeons *not said here* |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **move** | past | laths *= lath* |  |  |  |  | slightly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **come** | past | the two little girls |  |  |  |  | near carpets *= carpet* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near they=Location |

<!-- .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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