--- title: They were even lighter and more delicate than the flowers from which… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: They were even lighter and more delicate than the flowers from which they were born; and as the flames were extinguished, and nothing remained of the paper but black ashes, these little beings danced upon it; and whenever they touched it, bright red sparks appeared. Who acts: flowers, flames, bright --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/34/81/) [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 Flax](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/34/) / 81 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Flax, sentence 81 They were even lighter and more delicate than the flowers from which they were born; and as the flames were extinguished, and nothing remained of the paper but black ashes, these little beings danced upon it; and whenever they touched it, bright red sparks appeared. **Who acts:** flowers, flames, bright red sparks · **What happens:** be, bear, remain, dance, touch, appear · **To what, where:** flowers, little beings, flame This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Flax. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (flowers, flames, bright red sparks), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:34:81 # text = They were even lighter and more delicate than the flowers from which they were born; and as the flames were extinguished, and nothing remained of the paper but black ashes, these little beings danced upon it; and whenever they touched it, bright red sparks appeared. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 even even ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 lighter light ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 6 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 7 advmod _ _ 7 delicate delicate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 8 than than ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 flowers flower NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ _ 11 from from ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 15 obl _ _ 13 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj:pass _ _ 14 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux:pass _ _ 15 born bear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ; ; PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 18 as as SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 flames flame NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj _ _ 21 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 22 extinguished extinguished ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 22 parataxis _ _ 26 remained remain VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 25 acl _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 paper paper NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 30 but but CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 black black ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 ashes ash NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 36 det _ _ 35 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 beings being NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 conj _ _ 37 danced dance VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 36 acl _ _ 38 upon upon ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ; ; PUNCT : _ 4 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 42 whenever whenever ADV WRB PronType=Rel 44 advmod _ _ 43 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 44 touched touch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 50 advcl _ _ 45 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 47 bright bright ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 48 red red ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 sparks spark NOUN NNS Number=Plur 50 nsubj _ _ 50 appeared appear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | flowers *= flower* | | | | | light *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | | flowers *= flower* *not said here* | | | | | than the flowers | tree rules | | 3 | **bear** | past · passive | | flowers *= flower* | | the flowers | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 4 | **is** | past | the flames | | | | | extinguished *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **remain** | participle | | | | | | of the paper but black ashes | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **dance** | participle | | this little beings *not said here* | | flame | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon it=Location | | 7 | **touch** | past | flowers *= flower* | flame | | | | whenever *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Co-Theme | | 8 | **appear** | past | bright red sparks | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/34/80/) - next →: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/34/82/) - ↑ back to [The Flax](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/34/)