---
title: But their father, the old goblin, was very different; he talked plea… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But their father, the old goblin, was very different; he talked pleasantly about the stately Norwegian rocks, and told fine tales of the waterfalls which dashed over them with a clattering noise like thunder or the sound of an organ, spreading their white foam on every side. Who acts: father, waterf
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elfin Hill, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But their father, the old goblin, was very different; he talked pleasantly about the stately Norwegian rocks, and told fine tales of the waterfalls which dashed over them with a clattering noise like thunder or the sound of an organ, spreading their white foam on every side.

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**Who acts:** father, waterfalls · **What happens:** be, talk, tell, dash, spread · **To what, where:** fine tales, white foam, side · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (father, waterfalls), 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:pg27200:31:61
# text = But their father, the old goblin, was very different; he talked pleasantly about the stately Norwegian rocks, and told fine tales of the waterfalls which dashed over them with a clattering noise like thunder or the sound of an organ, spreading their white foam on every side.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	goblin	goblin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
15	pleasantly	pleasantly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	about	about	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	stately	stately	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
19	Norwegian	Norwegian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
24	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	waterfalls	waterfall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
30	dashed	dash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	over	over	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	clattering	clattering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
37	like	like	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	thunder	thunder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
39	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	organ	organ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	spreading	spread	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	ccomp	_	_
47	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
48	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	foam	foam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
50	on	on	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	52	det	_	_
52	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | folks's father and the old goblin |  |  |  |  | different *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **talk** | past | Father |  |  |  |  | about the stately Norwegian rocks; pleasantly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about rock=Topic |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Father *not said here* | fine tales of the waterfalls |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **dash** | past | the waterfalls |  |  |  |  | over folks *= folk*; with a clattering noise like thunder or the sound of a organ | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over they=Trajectory |
| 5 | **spread** | gerund |  | folks's white foam |  | every side |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent foam=Theme on side=Destination |
| 6 | **tell** |  | the waterfalls |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=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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