--- title: What we call the veins on a leaf, he took for roads; ay, and very lo… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: What we call the veins on a leaf, he took for roads; ay, and very long roads they were for him; for before he had half finished his task, the sun went down: he had commenced his work too late. Who acts: we, prettiest, roads, sun. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Anders --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/30/8/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Elf of the Rose](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/30/) / 8 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elf of the Rose, sentence 8 What we call the veins on a leaf, he took for roads; ay, and very long roads they were for him; for before he had half finished his task, the sun went down: he had commenced his work too late. **Who acts:** we, prettiest, roads, sun · **What happens:** call, take, be, finish, go down, commence · **To what, where:** veins, leaf, ay, long roads, task, work · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (we, prettiest, roads, sun), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:30:8 # text = What we call the veins on a leaf, he took for roads; ay, and very long roads they were for him; for before he had half finished his task, the sun went down: he had commenced his work too late. 1 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 3 obj _ _ 2 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 call call VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 veins vein NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obj _ _ 6 on on ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 leaf leaf NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 12 for for ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 roads road NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 ; ; PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 15 ay ay NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 18 very very ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 roads road NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 appos _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 for for ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ; ; PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 26 for for SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 27 before before SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 29 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 30 half half ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 31 advmod _ _ 31 finished finish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 advcl _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 sun sun NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nsubj _ _ 37 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 38 down down ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 : : PUNCT : _ 42 punct _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 commenced commence VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 37 conj _ _ 43 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ _ 45 too too ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 late late ADV RB Degree=Pos 42 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | present | we | the veins | | a leaf | | | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme vein=Result | | 2 | **take** | past | prettiest *= pretty* | ay | | | | for roads | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent ay=Theme for road=Beneficiary | | 3 | **is** | past | roads *= road* | long roads *not said here* | | | | for fragrance | tree rules | | 4 | **finish** | past · perfect | prettiest *= pretty* | prettiest's task | | | | half *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector task=Eventuality | | 5 | **go down** | past | the sun | | | | | down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 6 | **commence** | past · perfect | prettiest *= pretty* | prettiest's work | | | | late *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality | | 7 | **task** | | prettiest *= pretty* | | | | | | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent | | 8 | **work** | | prettiest *= pretty* | | | | | | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/30/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/30/9/) - ↑ back to [The Elf of the Rose](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/30/)