---
title: If the sea is rough, the foam dashes over us, yet we thank God even… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: If the sea is rough, the foam dashes over us, yet we thank God even for this rock; we have passed whole nights upon it, or we should never have reached our beloved fatherland, for our flight across the sea occupies two of the longest days in the year. Who acts: sea, foam, we, flight. A sentence of «
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 1, sentence 96

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If the sea is rough, the foam dashes over us, yet we thank God even for this rock; we have passed whole nights upon it, or we should never have reached our beloved fatherland, for our flight across the sea occupies two of the longest days in the year.

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**Who acts:** sea, foam, we, flight · **What happens:** be, dash, thank, pass, not reach, occupy · **To what, where:** God, sea, beloved fatherland, two

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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 (sea, foam, we, flight), 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:pg27200:208:96
# text = If the sea is rough, the foam dashes over us, yet we thank God even for this rock; we have passed whole nights upon it, or we should never have reached our beloved fatherland, for our flight across the sea occupies two of the longest days in the year.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	foam	foam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	dashes	dash	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	thank	thank	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
16	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	even	even	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
20	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
22	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
25	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
32	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
34	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux	_	_
35	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
36	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	beloved	beloved	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	fatherland	fatherland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	for	for	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
43	across	across	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	occupies	occupy	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
47	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	46	obj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	longest	long	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	51	amod	_	_
51	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | the sea |  |  |  |  | rough *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dash** | present | the foam |  |  |  |  | over us | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over we=Trajectory |
| 3 | **thank** *speech: thank* | present | we |  | God |  |  | for this rock | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent god=Theme for rock=Attribute |
| 4 | **pass** | present · perfect | we |  |  | sea | night |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon it=Location |
| 5 | **not** **reach** | should · perfect | we | our beloved fatherland |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent fatherland=Theme |
| 6 | **occupy** | present | our flight across the sea | two of the longest days |  |  | year |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus two=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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