---
title: "I know nothing of that place," said the fir-tree, "but I know the w… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "I know nothing of that place," said the fir-tree, "but I know the wood where the sun shines and the birds sing." Who acts: fir tree, sun, birds. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree, sentence 114

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I know nothing of that place," said the fir-tree, "but I know the wood where the sun shines and the birds sing."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fir tree, sun, birds · **What happens:** know, say, shine, sing · **To what, where:** nothing, wood · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fir tree, sun, birds), 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:pg27200:33:114
# text = "I know nothing of that place," said the fir-tree, "but I know the wood where the sun shines and the birds sing."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	fir	fir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	25	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sing	sing	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | present | the fir tree *= tree* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the fir tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | the fir tree *= tree* | the wood |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer wood=Stimulus |
| 4 | **shine** *in a quote* | present | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | present | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=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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