---
title: A few large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts of an ol… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: A few large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts of an old tree; they could understand one another very well, for they spoke the lizard language. Who acts: few large lizards, lizards. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elfin Hill, with its depend
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elfin Hill, sentence 1

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A few large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts of an old tree; they could understand one another very well, for they spoke the lizard language.

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**Who acts:** few large lizards, lizards · **What happens:** run, understand, speak · **To what, where:** clefts, one, lizard language · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elfin Hill. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (few large lizards, lizards), 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:pg27200:31:1
# text = A few large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts of an old tree; they could understand one another very well, for they spoke the lizard language.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	lizards	lizard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	nimbly	nimbly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	clefts	cleft	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	obj	_	_
21	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	fixed	_	_
22	very	very	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	lizard	lizard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past · progressive | a few large lizards |  |  | the clefts of a old tree |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cleft=Trajectory |
| 2 | **understand** | could | lizards *= lizard* | one |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | lizards *= lizard* | the lizard language |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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