---
title: The little mice also kept away after this, and the tree sighed, and… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The little mice also kept away after this, and the tree sighed, and said, "It was very pleasant when the merry little mice sat round me and listened while I talked. Who acts: little mice, tree, present, merry little mice. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree, sentence 134

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little mice also kept away after this, and the tree sighed, and said, "It was very pleasant when the merry little mice sat round me and listened while I talked.

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**Who acts:** little mice, tree, present, merry little mice · **What happens:** keep away, sigh, say, be, sit, listen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (little mice, tree, present, merry little mice), 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:pg27200:33:134
# text = The little mice also kept away after this, and the tree sighed, and said, "It was very pleasant when the merry little mice sat round me and listened while I talked.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	also	also	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	sighed	sigh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	very	very	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	pleasant	pleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	ccomp	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
25	merry	merry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
29	round	round	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
33	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep away** | past | the little mice |  |  |  | after this | away *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **sigh** | past | the tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the little mice *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | past | present |  |  |  |  | pleasant *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **sit** *in a quote* | past | the merry little mice |  |  |  |  | round the little mice *= mouse* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **listen** *in a quote* | past | the merry little mice *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **talk** *in a quote* | past | the little mice *= mouse* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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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