---
title: I saw," said the little mouse, "that the ants were always running to… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I saw," said the little mouse, "that the ants were always running to and fro with her burdens on their backs. Who acts: I, rest, ants. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Second Mouse Had to Tell, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the Second Mouse Had to Tell, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I saw," said the little mouse, "that the ants were always running to and fro with her burdens on their backs.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, rest, ants · **What happens:** see, say, run, fro, burden · **To what, where:** little mouse, backs · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Second Mouse Had to Tell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, rest, ants), 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:pg27200:180:29
# text = I saw," said the little mouse, "that the ants were always running to and fro with her burdens on their backs.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	16	advmod	_	_
16	running	run	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	fixed	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	fro	fro	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	burdens	burden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | rest *not said here* | the little mouse |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent mouse=Topic |
| 3 | **run** | past · progressive | the ants |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fro** | infinitive | the ants *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with rest's burdens on burdens's backs | tree rules |
| 5 | **burden** |  | rest |  |  | burdens's backs |  |  | nom burden «cognition transitive»: poss=agent on=place |

<!-- .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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