---
title: In the mean time she had almost finished her task; only one coat of… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: In the mean time she had almost finished her task; only one coat of mail was wanting, but she had no flax left, and not a single nettle. Who acts: Eliza, one coat. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 3, sentence 5

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In the mean time she had almost finished her task; only one coat of mail was wanting, but she had no flax left, and not a single nettle.

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**Who acts:** Eliza, one coat · **What happens:** finish, want, have, leave, task · **To what, where:** task, flax

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Wild Swans, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Eliza, one coat), 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:pg27200:210:5
# text = In the mean time she had almost finished her task; only one coat of mail was wanting, but she had no flax left, and not a single nettle.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	mean	mean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	mail	mail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
23	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
24	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	nettle	nettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **finish** | past · perfect | Eliza | Eliza's task |  |  | time | almost *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector task=Eventuality |
| 2 | **want** | past · progressive | one coat of mail |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **have** | past | Eliza | no flax |  |  |  | a single nettle *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flax=Patient |
| 4 | **leave** | participle |  | no flax *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **task** |  | Eliza |  |  |  |  |  | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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