---
title: It seemed impossible that the gates of mercy could ever be opened to… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed impossible that the gates of mercy could ever be opened to her; but while she acknowledged this in deep penitence, a beam of radiant light shot suddenly into the depths upon her. Who acts: It, sin. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Girl Who Trod 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It seemed impossible that the gates of mercy could ever be opened to her; but while she acknowledged this in deep penitence, a beam of radiant light shot suddenly into the depths upon her.

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**Who acts:** It, sin · **What happens:** seem, open, acknowledge, shoot, beam · **To what, where:** gates, sin, this, deep penitence, depths, radiant light

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, sin), 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:pg27200:37:79
# text = It seemed impossible that the gates of mercy could ever be opened to her; but while she acknowledged this in deep penitence, a beam of radiant light shot suddenly into the depths upon her.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	12	advmod	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	opened	open	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	csubj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
17	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	acknowledged	acknowledge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
20	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	obj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	penitence	penitence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	beam	beam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	appos	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	radiant	radiant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	shot	shoot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
31	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	depths	depth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
35	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **open** | could · passive |  | the gates of mercy | sin |  | ever |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Patient to she=Recipient |
| 3 | **acknowledge** | past | sin | this |  | deep penitence |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 4 | **shoot** | past |  |  |  | the depths |  | upon sin; suddenly *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent into depth=Destination |
| 5 | **beam** |  |  | radiant light |  |  |  |  | nom beam «communication transitive»: of=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.

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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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