--- title: He said he could easily follow the track of the closely-moving carri… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: He said he could easily follow the track of the closely-moving carriages, for which a path must be kept clear, and with nothing but his knapsack on his back, and leaning on his stick, he could step along briskly. Who acts: snow. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Anderse --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/204/14/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [Under the Willow-tree, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/204/) / 14 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 3, sentence 14 He said he could easily follow the track of the closely-moving carriages, for which a path must be kept clear, and with nothing but his knapsack on his back, and leaning on his stick, he could step along briskly. **Who acts:** snow · **What happens:** say, follow, move, keep, lean, step · **To what, where:** track, path, stick · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:204:14 # text = He said he could easily follow the track of the closely-moving carriages, for which a path must be kept clear, and with nothing but his knapsack on his back, and leaning on his stick, he could step along briskly. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 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 easily easily ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 follow follow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 ccomp _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 track track NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 11 closely closely ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 moving move VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 14 amod _ _ 14 carriages carriage NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 16 for for ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 obl _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 path path NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 20 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 22 aux:pass _ _ 22 kept keep VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 advcl _ _ 23 clear clear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 26 with with ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 43 obl _ _ 28 but but CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 29 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 knapsack knapsack NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 conj _ _ 31 on on ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 back back NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 leaning lean VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 27 acl _ _ 37 on on ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 stick stick NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 42 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 43 step step VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 44 along along ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 45 briskly briskly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | snow | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **follow** | could | snow | the track of the moving carriages | | | | easily *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent track=Theme | | 3 | **move** | gerund | | | | | | closely *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **keep** | must · passive | | a path | | | | clear *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 5 | **lean** | gerund | | | | snow's stick | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on stick=Location | | 6 | **step** | could | snow | | | | | with nothing; along, briskly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/204/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/204/15/) - ↑ back to [Under the Willow-tree, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/204/)