--- title: They hovered over the roof, twisted their long necks and flapped the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: They hovered over the roof, twisted their long necks and flapped their wings, but no one heard them or saw them, so they were at last obliged to fly away, high up in the clouds; and over the wide world they flew till they came to a thick, dark wood, which stretched far away to the seashore. Who acts --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/208/15/) [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/) / [The Wild Swans, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/208/) / 15 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 1, sentence 15 They hovered over the roof, twisted their long necks and flapped their wings, but no one heard them or saw them, so they were at last obliged to fly away, high up in the clouds; and over the wide world they flew till they came to a thick, dark wood, which stretched far away to the seashore. **Who acts:** birds, one, thick dark wood · **What happens:** hover, twist, flap, hear, see, oblige · **To what, where:** roof, long necks, wings, birds, wide world, thick dark wood This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Wild Swans, 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 (birds, one, thick dark wood), 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:pg27200:208:15 # text = They hovered over the roof, twisted their long necks and flapped their wings, but no one heard them or saw them, so they were at last obliged to fly away, high up in the clouds; and over the wide world they flew till they came to a thick, dark wood, which stretched far away to the seashore. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 hovered hover VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 over over ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 roof roof NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 7 twisted twist VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 8 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 9 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 necks neck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obj _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 flapped flap VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 13 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 17 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 18 det _ _ 18 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 20 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ _ 21 or or CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 23 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 25 so so ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 26 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj:pass _ _ 27 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux:pass _ _ 28 at at SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 29 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 obliged oblige VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 conj _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 fly fly VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 33 away away ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 35 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 conj _ _ 36 up up ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 clouds cloud NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ; ; PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 42 over over ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 wide wide ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ _ 46 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 47 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 48 till till SCONJ IN _ 50 mark _ _ 49 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 50 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 advcl _ _ 51 to to ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 52 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 53 thick thick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 55 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 amod _ _ 56 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 57 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 58 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 59 nsubj _ _ 59 stretched stretch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 acl:relcl _ _ 60 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 61 advmod _ _ 61 away away ADV RB _ 59 advmod _ _ 62 to to ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 64 seashore seashore NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hover** | past | birds *= bird* | | | the roof | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over roof=Location | | 2 | **twist** | past | birds *= bird* *not said here* | birds's long necks | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent neck=Theme | | 3 | **flap** | past | birds *= bird* *not said here* | birds's wings | | | | | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient | | 4 | **hear** | past | no one | birds *= bird* | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus | | 5 | **see** | past | no one *not said here* | birds *= bird* | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus | | 6 | **oblige** | past · passive | | birds *= bird* | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result | | 7 | **fly away** | to-infinitive | | | | | | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **fly** | past | birds *= bird* | | | the wide world | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over world=Location | | 9 | **come** | past | birds *= bird* | | | a thick dark wood | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to wood=Initial\_Location | | 10 | **stretch** | past | a thick dark wood | | | | | away *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | 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 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/208/14/) - next →: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/208/16/) - ↑ back to [The Wild Swans, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/208/)