---
title: The young fir-tree wished very much to know; so in the spring, when… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The young fir-tree wished very much to know; so in the spring, when the swallows and the storks came, it asked, "Do you know where those trees were taken? Who acts: young fir tree, swallows, third, you. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree, with its 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree, sentence 17

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The young fir-tree wished very much to know; so in the spring, when the swallows and the storks came, it asked, "Do you know where those trees were taken?

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**Who acts:** young fir tree, swallows, third, you · **What happens:** wish, know, come, ask, take · **To what, where:** much, trees · **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 (young fir tree, swallows, third, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:33:17
# text = The young fir-tree wished very much to know; so in the spring, when the swallows and the storks came, it asked, "Do you know where those trees were taken?
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	fir	fir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	swallows	swallow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	storks	stork	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
23	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	ccomp	_	_
32	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	36	advmod	_	_
33	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
34	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | past | the young fir tree | much |  |  | spring |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot much=Theme |
| 2 | **know** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **come** | past | the swallows and the storks |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | third |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **know** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **take** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | that trees |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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