---
title: Here sat two maidens, one young, and the other old, as if they had c… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Here sat two maidens, one young, and the other old, as if they had come and were waiting to accompany their mistresses home; but on looking at them more closely, it could easily be seen that they were no common servants. Who acts: maidens. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Beginning, sentence 8

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Here sat two maidens, one young, and the other old, as if they had come and were waiting to accompany their mistresses home; but on looking at them more closely, it could easily be seen that they were no common servants.

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**Who acts:** maidens · **What happens:** sit, come, wait, accompany, look, see · **To what, where:** two maidens, mistresses, Conversation, common servants

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, A Beginning. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (maidens), 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:pg27200:40:8
# text = Here sat two maidens, one young, and the other old, as if they had come and were waiting to accompany their mistresses home; but on looking at them more closely, it could easily be seen that they were no common servants.
1	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	maidens	maiden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	accompany	accompany	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	mistresses	mistress	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	home	home	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
29	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	40	advcl	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	_
33	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	34	advmod	_	_
34	closely	closely	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
38	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
44	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	46	det	_	_
45	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past |  | two maidens |  | here |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location maiden=Theme |
| 2 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | maidens *= maiden* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **wait** | past · progressive | maidens *= maiden* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **accompany** | to-infinitive | maidens *= maiden* *not said here* | maidens's mistresses |  |  |  | home *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mistress=Theme |
| 5 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | at maidens *= maiden*; closely *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at they=Theme |
| 6 | **see** | could · passive |  | Conversation |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 7 | **is a** | past | maidens *= maiden* | no common servants |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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