---
title: The ice glittered, the snow crackled, the skaters skimmed over the p… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The ice glittered, the snow crackled, the skaters skimmed over the polished surface of the lakes; ravens and crows formed a pleasing contrast to the white ground, and not a breath of wind stirred, and in the still air old Winter clenched his fists, and the ice lay fathoms deep between the lands. Who
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Story of the Year, sentence 147

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ice glittered, the snow crackled, the skaters skimmed over the polished surface of the lakes; ravens and crows formed a pleasing contrast to the white ground, and not a breath of wind stirred, and in the still air old Winter clenched his fists, and the ice lay fathoms deep between the lands.

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**Who acts:** ice, snow, skaters, ravens, Winter · **What happens:** glitter, crackle, skim, polish, form, stir · **To what, where:** polished surface, pleasing contrast, white ground, wind, fists, fathoms

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (ice, snow, skaters, ravens), 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:pg27200:214:147
# text = The ice glittered, the snow crackled, the skaters skimmed over the polished surface of the lakes; ravens and crows formed a pleasing contrast to the white ground, and not a breath of wind stirred, and in the still air old Winter clenched his fists, and the ice lay fathoms deep between the lands.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	glittered	glitter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	crackled	crackle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	skaters	skater	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	skimmed	skim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	polished	polish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	lakes	lake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	ravens	raven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
23	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	pleasing	pleasing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	contrast	contrast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
38	stirred	stir	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	still	still	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
45	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
46	Winter	Winter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
47	clenched	clench	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	fists	fist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
54	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
55	fathoms	fathom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obj	_	_
56	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
57	between	between	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glitter** | past | the ice |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **crackle** | past | the snow |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **skim** | past | the skaters |  |  | the polished surface of the lakes |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **polish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **form** | past | ravens and crows | a pleasing contrast | the white ground |  |  | a breath of wind *obl* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent contrast=Theme to ground=Recipient |
| 6 | **stir** | participle |  | wind *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **clench** | past | Winter | ice's fists |  |  |  | in the air | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent fist=Patient in air=Topic |
| 8 | **lie** | past | the ice | fathoms |  |  |  | between the lands; deep *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location fathom=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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