---
title: Here, in the time of the ancestral mother, had stood clipped hedges,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Here, in the time of the ancestral mother, had stood clipped hedges, but now only ferns and stinging nettles grew there, hiding the scattered fragments of old sculptured figures; the moss is growing in their eyes, but they can see as well as ever, which was more than the man could do who was in sear
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman, sentence 48

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Here, in the time of the ancestral mother, had stood clipped hedges, but now only ferns and stinging nettles grew there, hiding the scattered fragments of old sculptured figures; the moss is growing in their eyes, but they can see as well as ever, which was more than the man could do who was in search of the Story, for he could not find that.

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**Who acts:** ferns, moss, man · **What happens:** stand, clip, sting, grow, hide, sculpture · **To what, where:** clipped hedges, scattered fragments, eyes, search, that

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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 (ferns, moss, man), 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:pg27200:211:48
# text = Here, in the time of the ancestral mother, had stood clipped hedges, but now only ferns and stinging nettles grew there, hiding the scattered fragments of old sculptured figures; the moss is growing in their eyes, but they can see as well as ever, which was more than the man could do who was in search of the Story, for he could not find that.
1	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	ancestral	ancestral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	stood	stand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
13	clipped	clip	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	amod	_	_
14	hedges	hedge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
17	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
18	only	only	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	ferns	fern	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	stinging	sting	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	amod	_	_
22	nettles	nettle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
23	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
24	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	hiding	hide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	scattered	scatter	ADJ	VBN	_	29	amod	_	_
29	fragments	fragment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
32	sculptured	sculpture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	amod	_	_
33	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	parataxis	_	_
47	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	46	advmod	_	_
48	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	47	fixed	_	_
49	as	as	ADP	IN	_	47	fixed	_	_
50	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	47	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	54	nsubj	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
54	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	46	obj	_	_
55	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nsubj	_	_
58	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	advcl	_	_
60	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	63	nsubj	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	cop	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	acl:relcl	_	_
64	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	Story	Story	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	63	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
68	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	72	mark	_	_
69	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj	_	_
70	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	72	aux	_	_
71	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	72	advmod	_	_
72	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	conj	_	_
73	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	72	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past · perfect |  | clipped hedges |  | here | time |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hedge=Stimulus |
| 2 | **clip** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **sting** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **grow** | past | ferns and stinging nettles |  |  | there | now |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **hide** | gerund | ferns and stinging nettles *not said here* | the scattered fragments of old sculptured figures |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fragment=Patient |
| 6 | **sculpture** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **grow** | present · progressive | the moss |  |  | ferns's eyes |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in eye=Location |
| 8 | **see** | can | ferns *= fern* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | more *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **do** | could | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **is** | past |  |  |  | search |  | of the Story | tree rules |
| 12 | **not** **find** | could | man | that |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Topic |

<!-- .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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