---
title: Then her youngest sister whispered to the old goblin, "That is only… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then her youngest sister whispered to the old goblin, "That is only because she has heard, in a Norwegian song, that when the world shall decay, the cliffs of Norway will remain standing like monuments; and she wants to get there, that she may be safe; for she is so afraid of sinking." Who acts: wor
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/31/83/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 Elfin Hill](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/31/) / 83

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elfin Hill, sentence 83

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then her youngest sister whispered to the old goblin, "That is only because she has heard, in a Norwegian song, that when the world shall decay, the cliffs of Norway will remain standing like monuments; and she wants to get there, that she may be safe; for she is so afraid of sinking."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** world, cliffs, daughter · **What happens:** whisper, be, decay, remain, stand, want · **To what, where:** youngest sister, old goblin, That · **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 (world, cliffs, daughter), 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:pg27200:31:83
# text = Then her youngest sister whispered to the old goblin, "That is only because she has heard, in a Norwegian song, that when the world shall decay, the cliffs of Norway will remain standing like monuments; and she wants to get there, that she may be safe; for she is so afraid of sinking."
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	goblin	goblin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
14	only	only	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
15	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	Norwegian	Norwegian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	obj	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	decay	decay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	Norway	Norway	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
36	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	remain	remain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	ccomp	_	_
38	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	xcomp	_	_
39	like	like	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	monuments	monument	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	46	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
50	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	cop	_	_
53	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
55	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
56	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
57	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	59	cop	_	_
58	so	so	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
59	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	parataxis	_	_
60	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
61	sinking	sink	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	59	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | participle |  | daughter's youngest sister *not said here* | the old goblin |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to goblin=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | That |  |  |  | hear *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **decay** *in a quote* | shall | the world | that |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **remain** *in a quote* | future | the cliffs of Norway |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **stand** *in a quote* | gerund | the cliffs of Norway *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like monuments | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **want** *in a quote* | present | daughter |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 7 | **get** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | daughter *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **is** *in a quote* | may | daughter |  |  |  |  | safe *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **is** *in a quote* | present | daughter |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **sink** *in a quote* | gerund | daughter *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/31/82/)
- next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/31/84/)
- ↑ back to [The Elfin Hill](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/31/)