---
title: The tears he could not restrain rolled down his cheeks, and he was u… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The tears he could not restrain rolled down his cheeks, and he was unable to utter a single word; it seemed as if he had been struck dumb. Who acts: tears, father, it. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1, with its dependency tree an
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tears he could not restrain rolled down his cheeks, and he was unable to utter a single word; it seemed as if he had been struck dumb.

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**Who acts:** tears, father, it · **What happens:** not restrain, roll down, be, utter, seem, strike · **To what, where:** rolled cheeks, single word, father

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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 (tears, father, it), 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:pg27200:202:87
# text = The tears he could not restrain rolled down his cheeks, and he was unable to utter a single word; it seemed as if he had been struck dumb.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	restrain	restrain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	cheeks	cheek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	utter	utter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	xcomp	_	_
30	dumb	dumb	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **restrain** | could | the tears | father's rolled cheeks |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer cheek=Eventuality |
| 2 | **roll down** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | father |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **utter** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | a single word |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 5 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 6 | **strike** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | father |  |  |  | dumb *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Instrument |

<!-- .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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