---
title: They were not writing lines and letters, as they used to do; but des… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: They were not writing lines and letters, as they used to do; but descriptions of the noble deeds they had performed, and of all they had discovered and seen. Who acts: insects. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 1, with its dependency tree 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 1, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were not writing lines and letters, as they used to do; but descriptions of the noble deeds they had performed, and of all they had discovered and seen.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** insects · **What happens:** not write, use, do, perform, discover, see · **To what, where:** lines, descriptions, all, noble deeds

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (insects), 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:pg27200:208:45
# text = They were not writing lines and letters, as they used to do; but descriptions of the noble deeds they had performed, and of all they had discovered and seen.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
16	descriptions	description	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	noble	noble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	deeds	deed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	performed	perform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	discovered	discover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	parataxis	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **write** | past · progressive | insects *= insect* | lines and letters |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent line=Theme |
| 2 | **use** | past | insects *= insect* |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive | insects *= insect* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **perform** | past · perfect · passive |  | descriptions of the noble deeds |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **discover** | past · perfect · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 6 | **see** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **describe** |  |  | the noble deeds |  |  |  |  | nom description «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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