---
title: On the high bank of earth, which formed a dyke on the sea-coast, a p… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: On the high bank of earth, which formed a dyke on the sea-coast, a poor woman named Margaret wished to build herself a house, so all the imperfect bricks were given to her, and a few whole ones with them; for the eldest brother was a kind-hearted man, although he never achieved anything higher than 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Snowdrop, sentence 124

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the high bank of earth, which formed a dyke on the sea-coast, a poor woman named Margaret wished to build herself a house, so all the imperfect bricks were given to her, and a few whole ones with them; for the eldest brother was a kind-hearted man, although he never achieved anything higher than making bricks.

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**Who acts:** earth, poor woman, eldest brother, man · **What happens:** form, name, wish, build, give, be · **To what, where:** dyke, sea coast, poor woman, few whole ones, high bank, woman

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Snowdrop. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (earth, poor woman, eldest brother, man), 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:pg27200:177:124
# text = On the high bank of earth, which formed a dyke on the sea-coast, a poor woman named Margaret wished to build herself a house, so all the imperfect bricks were given to her, and a few whole ones with them; for the eldest brother was a kind-hearted man, although he never achieved anything higher than making bricks.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	dyke	dyke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	coast	coast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
21	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl	_	_
22	Margaret	Margaret	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	xcomp	_	_
23	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	obj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
31	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	imperfect	imperfect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	bricks	brick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
42	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
43	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
45	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	51	amod	_	_
51	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
52	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
54	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	hearted	hearted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
59	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
60	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
61	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	62	advmod	_	_
62	achieved	achieve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
63	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	62	obj	_	_
64	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	63	amod	_	_
65	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	66	mark	_	_
66	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	64	advcl	_	_
67	bricks	brick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | past | earth | a dyke |  | the sea coast |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location dyke=Theme |
| 2 | **name** | participle |  | a poor woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wish** | past | a poor woman | a few whole ones with bricks |  | the high bank of earth |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **build** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a poor woman *not said here* | woman |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset herself=Beneficiary house=Product |
| 5 | **give** | past · passive |  | all imperfect bricks | woman |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to she=Recipient |
| 6 | **is** | past | the eldest brother |  |  |  |  | for a hearted man | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **achieve** | past | man | anything |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 8 | **make** | gerund | man *not said here* | bricks |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset brick=Product |

<!-- .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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