---
title: The fire-shovel clattered down on the brass fender; and then, quite… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The fire-shovel clattered down on the brass fender; and then, quite as suddenly, all was still,--nothing could be heard but the light, vapory song of the tea-kettle, which was quite wonderful to hear, for no one could rightly distinguish whether the kettle was just beginning to boil or going to stop
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the First Little Mouse Saw and Heard on Her Travels, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fire-shovel clattered down on the brass fender; and then, quite as suddenly, all was still,--nothing could be heard but the light, vapory song of the tea-kettle, which was quite wonderful to hear, for no one could rightly distinguish whether the kettle was just beginning to boil or going to stop.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** tea kettle, one, kettle · **What happens:** clatter down, hear, be, distinguish, begin, boil · **To what, where:** fire shovel, brass fender

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the First Little Mouse Saw and Heard on Her Travels. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tea kettle, one, kettle), 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:pg27200:179:63
# text = The fire-shovel clattered down on the brass fender; and then, quite as suddenly, all was still,--nothing could be heard but the light, vapory song of the tea-kettle, which was quite wonderful to hear, for no one could rightly distinguish whether the kettle was just beginning to boil or going to stop.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	shovel	shovel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
5	clattered	clatter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	brass	brass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	fender	fender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	as	as	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	advmod	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
21	still	still	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	vapory	vapory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	kettle	kettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	43	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
42	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	parataxis	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
47	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
48	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	49	det	_	_
49	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
50	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	rightly	rightly	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	conj	_	_
53	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	kettle	kettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
56	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	just	just	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
58	beginning	begin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
59	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
60	boil	boil	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	xcomp	_	_
61	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	58	conj	_	_
63	to	to	PART	TO	_	64	mark	_	_
64	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	62	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clatter down** | participle |  | the fire shovel *not said here* |  | the brass fender |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on fender=Location |
| 2 | **hear** | could · past · passive |  | the fire shovel |  |  | then; still | suddenly *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | past | the tea kettle |  |  |  |  | wonderful *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hear** | to-infinitive | the tea kettle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **distinguish** | could | no one |  |  |  |  | rightly *property* | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **begin** | past · progressive | the kettle |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **boil** | to-infinitive | the kettle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **go** | gerund | the kettle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **stop** | to-infinitive | the kettle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 10 | **sing** |  | the tea kettle |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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