---
title: No one could tell where the dance begun, or where it ended, nor inde… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: No one could tell where the dance begun, or where it ended, nor indeed which were legs and which were arms, for they were all flying about together, like the shavings in a saw-pit! Who acts: one, dance, goblin, legs. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elfin
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elfin Hill, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No one could tell where the dance begun, or where it ended, nor indeed which were legs and which were arms, for they were all flying about together, like the shavings in a saw-pit!

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**Who acts:** one, dance, goblin, legs, dances · **What happens:** tell, begin, end, be, fly · **To what, where:** legs, arms · **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 (one, dance, goblin, legs), 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:pg27200:31:67
# text = No one could tell where the dance begun, or where it ended, nor indeed which were legs and which were arms, for they were all flying about together, like the shavings in a saw-pit!
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	8	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dance	dance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	19	cc	_	_
16	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	19	det	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	all	all	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
30	about	about	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	together	together	ADV	RB	_	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	like	like	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	shavings	shaving	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
38	saw	saw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **begin** | participle | the dance |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **end** | past | goblin |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | which legs and arms |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | which legs and arms | arms |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **fly** | past · progressive | dances *= dance* |  |  |  |  | like the shavings in a saw pit; all *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about together=Location |

<!-- .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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