---
title: The floodgates at the mill had been drawn up, and as the water rolle… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The floodgates at the mill had been drawn up, and as the water rolled rapidly on, the sheets were dragged along by the stream, and nearly overturned the bench, so that the washer-woman was obliged to lean against it to keep it steady. " Who acts: water, stream. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Chr
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, She Was Good For Nothing, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The floodgates at the mill had been drawn up, and as the water rolled rapidly on, the sheets were dragged along by the stream, and nearly overturned the bench, so that the washer-woman was obliged to lean against it to keep it steady. "

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**Who acts:** water, stream · **What happens:** draw up, roll, drag, overturn, oblige, lean · **To what, where:** floodgates, sheets, bench, washer woman, water

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, She Was Good For Nothing. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (water, stream), 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:pg27200:46:24
# text = The floodgates at the mill had been drawn up, and as the water rolled rapidly on, the sheets were dragged along by the stream, and nearly overturned the bench, so that the washer-woman was obliged to lean against it to keep it steady. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	floodgates	floodgate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
16	rapidly	rapidly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	on	on	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	sheets	sheet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	dragged	drag	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
23	along	along	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	overturned	overturn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	bench	bench	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
34	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	41	mark	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	fixed	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
37	washer	washer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux:pass	_	_
41	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	conj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	lean	lean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
44	against	against	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obl	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	steady	steady	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
51	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw up** | past · perfect · passive |  | the floodgates at the mill |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **roll** | past | the water |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **drag** | past · passive | the stream | the sheets |  |  |  | along *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 4 | **overturn** | past |  | the bench |  |  |  | nearly *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | the washer woman |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 6 | **lean** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | water |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent against it=Location |
| 7 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | water |  |  |  | steady *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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