---
title: But far across the bay, when the sky was clear, the towers of Copenh… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But far across the bay, when the sky was clear, the towers of Copenhagen could be seen; and on the day of his confirmation he saw distinctly the golden cross on the principal church glittering in the sun. How often his thoughts were with Joanna! but did she think of him? Who acts: sky, Copenhagen, p
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But far across the bay, when the sky was clear, the towers of Copenhagen could be seen; and on the day of his confirmation he saw distinctly the golden cross on the principal church glittering in the sun. How often his thoughts were with Joanna! but did she think of him?

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**Who acts:** sky, Copenhagen, principal church, thoughts, Joanna · **What happens:** be, see, glitter, think, confirm · **To what, where:** bay, golden cross, principal church, sun.

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sky, Copenhagen, principal church, thoughts), 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:pg27200:202:51
# text = But far across the bay, when the sky was clear, the towers of Copenhagen could be seen; and on the day of his confirmation he saw distinctly the golden cross on the principal church glittering in the sun. How often his thoughts were with Joanna! but did she think of him?
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
2	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
3	across	across	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bay	bay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Copenhagen	Copenhagen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	confirmation	confirmation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
30	distinctly	distinctly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	cross	cross	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
38	glittering	glitter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	acl	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
42	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	43	advmod	_	_
43	often	often	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj	_	_
46	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	Joanna	Joanna	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	_
50	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
51	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the sky |  |  |  |  | clear *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | could · passive |  | the bay and the towers of Copenhagen |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **see** | past | Copenhagen | the golden cross |  | the principal church | day |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cross=Stimulus |
| 4 | **glitter** | gerund | the principal church *not said here* |  |  | the sun. |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sun.=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | Copenhagen's thoughts |  |  |  |  | with Joanna; often *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past · do-support | Joanna |  |  |  |  | of Copenhagen | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **confirm** |  | Copenhagen |  |  |  |  |  | nom confirmation «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **think** |  | Copenhagen |  |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: poss=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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