---
title: But the elf slipped out of the withered leaf, placed himself by the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But the elf slipped out of the withered leaf, placed himself by the ear of the sleeping girl, and told her, as in a dream, of the horrid murder; described the place where her brother had slain her lover, and buried his body; and told her of the linden-tree, in full blossom, that stood close by. Who 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elf of the Rose, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the elf slipped out of the withered leaf, placed himself by the ear of the sleeping girl, and told her, as in a dream, of the horrid murder; described the place where her brother had slain her lover, and buried his body; and told her of the linden-tree, in full blossom, that stood close by.

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**Who acts:** elf, withered leaf, brother, full blossom · **What happens:** slip out, wither, place, tell, describe, slay · **To what, where:** withered leaf, leaf, girl, place, lover, body · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elf of the Rose. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elf, withered leaf, brother, full blossom), 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:pg27200:30:41
# text = But the elf slipped out of the withered leaf, placed himself by the ear of the sleeping girl, and told her, as in a dream, of the horrid murder; described the place where her brother had slain her lover, and buried his body; and told her of the linden-tree, in full blossom, that stood close by.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	elf	elf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	withered	wither	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obj	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	horrid	horrid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	murder	murder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
35	described	describe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	42	advmod	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	slain	slay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	37	acl:relcl	_	_
43	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	lover	lover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	buried	bury	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	52	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
53	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	iobj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
56	linden	linden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
60	in	in	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	blossom	blossom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
64	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	65	nsubj	_	_
65	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	acl:relcl	_	_
66	close	close	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	65	advmod	_	_
67	by	by	ADP	IN	_	66	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slip out** | past | the elf | the withered leaf |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |
| 2 | **wither** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **place** | participle | the withered leaf *not said here* | leaf |  |  |  | by the ear of the sleeping girl | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent himself=Theme by ear=Destination |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the elf *not said here* |  | girl |  |  | of the horrid murder | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 5 | **describe** | participle |  | the place |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent place=Theme |
| 6 | **slay** | past · perfect | girl's brother | girl's lover |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lover=Patient |
| 7 | **bury** | past | the elf *not said here* | leaf's body |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |
| 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the elf *not said here* |  | girl | full blossom |  | of the linden tree | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 9 | **stand** | past | full blossom |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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