---
title: A little Will-o'-the-Wisp was born here--in fact, twelve of them wer… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: A little Will-o'-the-Wisp was born here--in fact, twelve of them were born all together; and they have permission, if they choose to use it, to go abroad among men, and to move about and command among them, just as if they were born mortals. Who acts: Wisps. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christ
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman, sentence 170

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A little Will-o'-the-Wisp was born here--in fact, twelve of them were born all together; and they have permission, if they choose to use it, to go abroad among men, and to move about and command among them, just as if they were born mortals.

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**Who acts:** Wisps · **What happens:** bear, have, choose, use, go, move about · **To what, where:** Wisp, fact, permission, Wisps · **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 (Wisps), 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:pg27200:211:170
# text = A little Will-o'-the-Wisp was born here--in fact, twelve of them were born all together; and they have permission, if they choose to use it, to go abroad among men, and to move about and command among them, just as if they were born mortals.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	Will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	6	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Wisp	Wisp	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
13	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	appos	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nmod	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
23	all	all	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	together	together	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
29	permission	permission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	choose	choose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	conj	_	_
40	abroad	abroad	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	among	among	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	move	move	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
47	about	about	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	command	command	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	46	conj	_	_
50	among	among	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
53	just	just	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
54	as	as	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
55	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
56	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj:pass	_	_
57	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux:pass	_	_
58	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	59	amod	_	_
59	mortals	mortal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past · passive |  | Wisp |  | here |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **bear** | past · passive |  | fact |  |  |  | together *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | present | Wisps *= wisp* | permission |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent permission=Patient |
| 4 | **choose** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Wisps *= wisp* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **use** | to-infinitive | Wisps *= wisp* *not said here* | permission |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **go** | to-infinitive | Wisps *= wisp* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | among men; abroad *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme among man=Location |
| 7 | **move about** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **command** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | among Wisps *= wisp*; as born mortals | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.predicate»: agent=Agent among they=Eventuality |
| 9 | **bear** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | Wisps *= wisp* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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