---
title: The birds sang, the fishes leaped up to the surface of the water, th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The birds sang, the fishes leaped up to the surface of the water, the gnats danced in the sunshine, and yonder, on a rock by the heaving salt sea, sat Summer himself, a strong man with sturdy limbs and long, dripping hair. Who acts: birds, gnats. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Story of the Year, sentence 103

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The birds sang, the fishes leaped up to the surface of the water, the gnats danced in the sunshine, and yonder, on a rock by the heaving salt sea, sat Summer himself, a strong man with sturdy limbs and long, dripping hair.

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**Who acts:** birds, gnats · **What happens:** sing, leap up, dance, sit, drip · **To what, where:** fishes, surface, sunshine, Summer, rock, hair

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Story of the Year. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, gnats), 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:pg27200:214:103
# text = The birds sang, the fishes leaped up to the surface of the water, the gnats danced in the sunshine, and yonder, on a rock by the heaving salt sea, sat Summer himself, a strong man with sturdy limbs and long, dripping hair.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	leaped	leap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	gnats	gnat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
18	danced	dance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
24	yonder	yonder	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	heaving	heaving	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
32	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
35	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
36	Summer	Summer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	obl:unmarked	_	_
37	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	sturdy	sturdy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	limbs	limb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nmod	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
48	dripping	drip	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
49	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | the birds | the fishes |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location fish=Theme |
| 2 | **leap up** | participle |  | the fishes *not said here* |  | the surface of the water |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to surface=Destination |
| 3 | **dance** | past | the gnats |  |  | the sunshine |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in sunshine=Location |
| 4 | **sit** | past | the gnats *not said here* | Summer |  | a rock by the heaving salt sea |  | sun *obl*; a strong man with sturdy limbs *obl*; yonder *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on rock=Location |
| 5 | **drip** | gerund | the gnats *not said here* | hair |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hair=Source |

<!-- .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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