---
title: And when the mighty birds come soaring through the air to destroy it… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: And when the mighty birds come soaring through the air to destroy it, even the callow young stand round in a circle on the margin of the nest, and though their breasts may be struck so that their blood flows, they bear it, and strike with their wings and their claws. Who acts: mighty birds, blood, b
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Swan's Nest, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And when the mighty birds come soaring through the air to destroy it, even the callow young stand round in a circle on the margin of the nest, and though their breasts may be struck so that their blood flows, they bear it, and strike with their wings and their claws.

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**Who acts:** mighty birds, blood, breasts · **What happens:** come, soar, destroy, strike, flow, bear · **To what, where:** callow young stand, air, breasts, blood

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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 (mighty birds, blood, breasts), 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:pg27200:187:20
# text = And when the mighty birds come soaring through the air to destroy it, even the callow young stand round in a circle on the margin of the nest, and though their breasts may be struck so that their blood flows, they bear it, and strike with their wings and their claws.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	soaring	soar	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	even	even	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
17	callow	callow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
18	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	stand	stand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
20	round	round	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	margin	margin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	breasts	breast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
38	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	42	mark	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	fixed	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	flows	flow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	bear	bear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	parataxis	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	strike	strike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
54	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | the mighty birds | the callow young stand in a circle on the margin of the nest |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **soar** | gerund | the mighty birds *not said here* |  |  | the air |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme through air=Trajectory |
| 3 | **destroy** | to-infinitive | the mighty birds *not said here* | air |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **strike** | may · passive |  | birds's breasts |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **flow** | present | birds's blood |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **bear** | present | breasts *= breast* | blood |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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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