---
title: It seemed as if the tree were stretching forth its arms to clasp the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed as if the tree were stretching forth its arms to clasp the messengers of the light. Who acts: It, tree. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Dryad, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Dryad, part 1, sentence 74

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It seemed as if the tree were stretching forth its arms to clasp the messengers of the light.

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**Who acts:** It, tree · **What happens:** seem, stretch, clasp · **To what, where:** arms, messengers

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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 (It, 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:pg27200:24:74
# text = It seemed as if the tree were stretching forth its arms to clasp the messengers of the light.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	stretching	stretch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	xcomp	_	_
9	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	clasp	clasp	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **stretch** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | the tree | tree's arms |  |  |  | forth *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent arm=Patient |
| 3 | **clasp** | to-infinitive | the tree *not said here* | the messengers of the light |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme |

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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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