--- title: But this speed is like the movements of the sloth, or the crawling m… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: But this speed is like the movements of the sloth, or the crawling march of the snail, when compared to the swiftness with which light travels; light flies nineteen million times faster than the fleetest race-horse, and electricity is more rapid still. Who acts: speed, light, electricity. A sentence --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/42/56/) [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 Watchman's Adventures](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/42/) / 56 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Watchman's Adventures, sentence 56 But this speed is like the movements of the sloth, or the crawling march of the snail, when compared to the swiftness with which light travels; light flies nineteen million times faster than the fleetest race-horse, and electricity is more rapid still. **Who acts:** speed, light, electricity · **What happens:** be, compare, travel, fly This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Watchman's Adventures. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (speed, light, electricity), 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:pg27200:42:56 # text = But this speed is like the movements of the sloth, or the crawling march of the snail, when compared to the swiftness with which light travels; light flies nineteen million times faster than the fleetest race-horse, and electricity is more rapid still. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 2 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 3 det _ _ 3 speed speed NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 4 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 5 like like ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 movements movement NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 sloth sloth NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 or or CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 crawling crawling NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 compound _ _ 15 march march NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 appos _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 snail snail NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 21 advmod _ _ 21 compared compare VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 18 acl _ _ 22 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 swiftness swiftness NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 25 with with ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 28 obl _ _ 27 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 28 travels travel VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ; ; PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 31 flies fly VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 32 nineteen nineteen NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 compound _ _ 33 million million NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 34 nummod _ _ 34 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obl:unmarked _ _ 35 faster fast ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 31 advmod _ _ 36 than than ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 38 fleetest fleet ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 41 amod _ _ 39 race race NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 44 electricity electricity NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ _ 45 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 46 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 47 advmod _ _ 47 rapid rapid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 conj _ _ 48 still still ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | this speed | | | | | like the movements; of the sloth | tree rules | | 2 | **compare** | participle | | | | | | to the swiftness | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **travel** | present | light | | | | | with the swiftness | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **fly** | present | light | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **is** | present | electricity | | | | still | rapid *property* | tree rules | 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 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/42/55/) - next →: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/42/57/) - ↑ back to [The Watchman's Adventures](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/42/)