---
title: Her brothers were again changed to swans, and they flew in circles w… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Her brothers were again changed to swans, and they flew in circles wider and wider, till they were far away; but one of them, the youngest swan, remained behind, and laid his head in his sister's lap, while she stroked his wings; and they remained together the whole day. Who acts: brothers, Eliza, w
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 2, sentence 4

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Her brothers were again changed to swans, and they flew in circles wider and wider, till they were far away; but one of them, the youngest swan, remained behind, and laid his head in his sister's lap, while she stroked his wings; and they remained together the whole day.

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**Who acts:** brothers, Eliza, wings · **What happens:** change, fly, be, remain, lay, stroke · **To what, where:** brothers, circles, youngest swan, head, lap, wings

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brothers, Eliza, wings), 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:pg27200:209:4
# text = Her brothers were again changed to swans, and they flew in circles wider and wider, till they were far away; but one of them, the youngest swan, remained behind, and laid his head in his sister's lap, while she stroked his wings; and they remained together the whole day.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	again	again	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	swans	swan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	circles	circle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
14	wider	wide	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	xcomp	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	wider	wide	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
22	away	away	ADV	RB	_	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	parataxis	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
31	swan	swan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	acl	_	_
34	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	's	's	PART	POS	_	42	case	_	_
44	lap	lap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
47	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	stroked	stroke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	54	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	remained	remain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
55	together	together	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | past · passive |  | Eliza's brothers |  |  | again | to swans | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **fly** | past | brothers *= brother* |  |  | circles |  | wide *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in circle=Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  | away, far *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **remain** | participle |  | the youngest swan *not said here* |  |  |  | behind *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **lay** | past |  | his head |  | his sister's lap |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent head=Theme in lap=Destination |
| 6 | **stroke** | past | Eliza | his wings |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Experiencer |
| 7 | **remain** | past | wings *= wing* |  |  |  | day | together *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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