---
title: Can you tell me how the Will-o'-the-Wisps deport themselves, and how… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Can you tell me how the Will-o'-the-Wisps deport themselves, and how they behave? and in what shapes they have aforetime appeared and led people into crooked paths?" Who acts: you, Wisps. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Sa
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman, sentence 212

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Can you tell me how the Will-o'-the-Wisps deport themselves, and how they behave? and in what shapes they have aforetime appeared and led people into crooked paths?"

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**Who acts:** you, Wisps · **What happens:** tell, deport, behave, appear, lead · **To what, where:** me, Wisps, shapes, people, crooked paths · **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 (you, 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:pg27200:211:212
# text = Can you tell me how the Will-o'-the-Wisps deport themselves, and how they behave? and in what shapes they have aforetime appeared and led people into crooked paths?"
1	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	Will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	10	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Wisps	wisp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	deport	deport	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
16	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	behave	behave	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	26	det	_	_
26	shapes	shape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	aforetime	aforetime	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	appeared	appear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	parataxis	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
33	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	into	into	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	crooked	crooked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	paths	path	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 2 | **deport** | present | the Wisps | Wisps *= wisp* |  |  |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |
| 3 | **behave** | present | Wisps *= wisp* |  |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **appear** | present · perfect | Wisps *= wisp* |  |  | what shapes |  | aforetime *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in shape=Location |
| 5 | **lead** | past | Wisps *= wisp* *not said here* | people |  | crooked paths |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent people=Theme into path=Destination |

<!-- .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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