---
title: We have seen a third swan spinning the thread of thought that is fas… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: We have seen a third swan spinning the thread of thought that is fastened from country to country round the world, so that the word may fly with lightning speed from land to land. Who acts: We, word. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Swan's Nest, with its 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Swan's Nest, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We have seen a third swan spinning the thread of thought that is fastened from country to country round the world, so that the word may fly with lightning speed from land to land.

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**Who acts:** We, word · **What happens:** see, spin, fasten, fly · **To what, where:** third swan, thread, thought, land

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Swan's Nest. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, word), 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:pg27200:187:18
# text = We have seen a third swan spinning the thread of thought that is fastened from country to country round the world, so that the word may fly with lightning speed from land to land.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	amod	_	_
6	swan	swan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	round	round	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | present · perfect | We | a third swan |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer swan=Stimulus |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund | We *not said here* | the thread of thought |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent thread=Theme |
| 3 | **fasten** | present · passive |  | thought |  |  |  | to country; round the world; to country | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Patient to country=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **fly** | may | the word |  |  | land |  | with lightning speed; to land | vn drive-11.5-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent from land=Initial\_Location to land=Destination |

<!-- .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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