---
title: She told with such an air of truth, that black spots danced before t… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: She told with such an air of truth, that black spots danced before the eyes of all who heard her, and the floor became black with human blood; terrible to see and to hear, and yet so entertaining, because such a long time had passed since it all happened. Who acts: charming, eyes, floor, long time. 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman, sentence 16

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She told with such an air of truth, that black spots danced before the eyes of all who heard her, and the floor became black with human blood; terrible to see and to hear, and yet so entertaining, because such a long time had passed since it all happened.

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**Who acts:** charming, eyes, floor, long time, it · **What happens:** tell, dance, hear, become, see, pass · **To what, where:** air, charming · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (charming, eyes, floor, long time), 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:pg27200:211:16
# text = She told with such an air of truth, that black spots danced before the eyes of all who heard her, and the floor became black with human blood; terrible to see and to hear, and yet so entertaining, because such a long time had passed since it all happened.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	6	det:predet	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	spots	spot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	danced	dance	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
14	before	before	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	nmod	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
20	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
27	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
32	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	entertaining	entertaining	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
44	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
45	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	48	det:predet	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
49	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	conj	_	_
51	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	all	all	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
54	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | charming |  |  |  |  | with such air of truth | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **dance** | participle · passive |  | such air of truth |  |  | before the eyes of all |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **hear** | past | the eyes of all | charming |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |
| 4 | **become** | past | the floor |  |  |  |  | black *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | charming *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **hear** | to-infinitive | charming *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **pass** | past · perfect | such long time |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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