---
title: These were as tall as they would ever be; but the tree grew every ye… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: These were as tall as they would ever be; but the tree grew every year, and enjoyed the air and the sunshine, and drank the dew and the rain. Who acts: These, tree. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Dryad, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Dryad, part 1, sentence 19

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These were as tall as they would ever be; but the tree grew every year, and enjoyed the air and the sunshine, and drank the dew and the rain.

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**Who acts:** These, tree · **What happens:** be, grow, enjoy, drink · **To what, where:** air, dew

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Dryad, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (These, tree), 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:pg27200:24:19
# text = These were as tall as they would ever be; but the tree grew every year, and enjoyed the air and the sunshine, and drank the dew and the rain.
1	These	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	as	as	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	det	_	_
16	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	enjoyed	enjoy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	drank	drink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | These |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | infinitive | These *not said here* |  |  |  | ever |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **grow** | past | the tree |  |  |  | year |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **enjoy** | past | the tree *not said here* | the air and the sunshine |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer air=Stimulus |
| 5 | **drink** | past | the tree *not said here* | the dew and the rain |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dew=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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