--- title: They knew not themselves how old they were; but they could remember… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: They knew not themselves how old they were; but they could remember the time when there were a great many more of them, and that they were descended from a family which came from foreign lands, and that the whole forest had been planted for them and theirs. Who acts: snails, a, family. A sentence of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/48/8/) [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 Happy Family](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/48/) / 8 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Happy Family, sentence 8 They knew not themselves how old they were; but they could remember the time when there were a great many more of them, and that they were descended from a family which came from foreign lands, and that the whole forest had been planted for them and theirs. **Who acts:** snails, a, family · **What happens:** not know, be, remember, descend, come, plant · **To what, where:** snails, family, foreign lands, whole forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Happy Family. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snails, a, family), 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:pg27200:48:8 # text = They knew not themselves how old they were; but they could remember the time when there were a great many more of them, and that they were descended from a family which came from foreign lands, and that the whole forest had been planted for them and theirs. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 2 advmod _ _ 4 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 2 obl _ _ 5 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 6 advmod _ _ 6 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 ccomp _ _ 7 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 8 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 10 but but CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 11 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 remember remember VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 conj _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 18 advmod _ _ 17 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 18 expl _ _ 18 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 ccomp _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 nsubj _ _ 20 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 advcl _ _ 21 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 20 conj _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 27 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 28 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 29 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux:pass _ _ 30 descended descend VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 19 acl _ _ 31 from from ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 family family NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 35 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 acl:relcl _ _ 36 from from ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 foreign foreign ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 lands land NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 41 that that SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 forest forest NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj:pass _ _ 45 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux _ _ 46 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 47 aux:pass _ _ 47 planted plant VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 conj _ _ 48 for for ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 obl _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 51 cc _ _ 51 theirs their PRON PRP Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 49 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **know** | past | snails *= snail* | snails *= snail* | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is** | past | snails *= snail* | | | | | old *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **remember** | could | snails *= snail* | | | | time | | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **be** | past | a | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **descend** | past · passive | | snails *= snail* | | a family | | | vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | | 6 | **come** | past | a family | | | foreign lands | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from land=Initial\_Location | | 7 | **plant** | past · perfect · passive | | the whole forest | | | | for snails *= snail* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/48/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/48/9/) - ↑ back to [The Happy Family](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/48/)