---
title: The history of the world is like a magic lantern that displays to us… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The history of the world is like a magic lantern that displays to us, in light pictures upon the dark ground of the present, how the benefactors of mankind, the martyrs of genius, wandered along the thorny road of honor. Who acts: history, magic lantern. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Thorny Road of Honor, sentence 4

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The history of the world is like a magic lantern that displays to us, in light pictures upon the dark ground of the present, how the benefactors of mankind, the martyrs of genius, wandered along the thorny road of honor.

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**Who acts:** history, magic lantern · **What happens:** be, display, wander · **To what, where:** us, light pictures, thorny road

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Thorny Road of Honor. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (history, magic lantern), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:190:4
# text = The history of the world is like a magic lantern that displays to us, in light pictures upon the dark ground of the present, how the benefactors of mankind, the martyrs of genius, wandered along the thorny road of honor.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	lantern	lantern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	displays	display	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	benefactors	benefactor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	mankind	mankind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	martyrs	martyr	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	genius	genius	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	wandered	wander	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
39	along	along	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	thorny	thorny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	honor	honor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the history of the world |  |  |  |  | like a magic lantern | tree rules |
| 2 | **display** | present | a magic lantern |  | us | light pictures |  | upon the dark ground of the present and the benefactors of mankind and the martyrs of genius | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to we=Recipient |
| 3 | **wander** | past | the history of the world *not said here* |  |  | the thorny road of honor |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along road=Trajectory |

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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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