---
title: The trees on its banks stretched their long leafy branches across th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The trees on its banks stretched their long leafy branches across the water towards each other, and where the growth prevented them from meeting naturally, the roots had torn themselves away from the ground, so that the branches might mingle their foliage as they hung over the water. Who acts: trees
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 1, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The trees on its banks stretched their long leafy branches across the water towards each other, and where the growth prevented them from meeting naturally, the roots had torn themselves away from the ground, so that the branches might mingle their foliage as they hung over the water.

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**Who acts:** trees, growth, branches · **What happens:** stretch, prevent, meet, tear, mingle, hang · **To what, where:** long leafy branches, water, branches, roots, foliage

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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 (trees, growth, branches), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:208:71
# text = The trees on its banks stretched their long leafy branches across the water towards each other, and where the growth prevented them from meeting naturally, the roots had torn themselves away from the ground, so that the branches might mingle their foliage as they hung over the water.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	banks	bank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
8	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	leafy	leafy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
11	across	across	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
14	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	6	obl	_	_
16	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
19	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	22	advmod	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	growth	growth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	meeting	meet	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
26	naturally	naturally	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
32	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	31	obj	_	_
33	away	away	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	mingle	mingle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	foliage	foliage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	_
49	over	over	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stretch** | past | the trees on river's banks | feet's long leafy branches |  | the water |  | towards each | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent branch=Patient towards each=Recipient |
| 2 | **prevent** | past | the growth | branches *= branch* |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer they=Theme |
| 3 | **meet** | gerund | the growth *not said here* |  |  |  |  | naturally *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **tear** | past · perfect · passive |  | the roots |  |  |  | away *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Patient themselves=Result |
| 5 | **mingle** | might | the branches | feet's foliage |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foliage=Patient |
| 6 | **hang** | past | branches *= branch* |  |  | the water |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over water=Location |

<!-- .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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