---
title: A dram is a great comfort, and two are better still, thought the ski… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: A dram is a great comfort, and two are better still, thought the skipper, while the boy sat at the helm, which he held fast in his hard seamed hands. Who acts: dram, two, boy, helm. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Anne Lisbeth, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A dram is a great comfort, and two are better still, thought the skipper, while the boy sat at the helm, which he held fast in his hard seamed hands.

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**Who acts:** dram, two, boy, helm · **What happens:** be, think, sit, hold, seam · **To what, where:** great comfort, skipper, helm, hard seamed hands

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Anne Lisbeth. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dram, two, boy, helm), 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:pg27200:5:27
# text = A dram is a great comfort, and two are better still, thought the skipper, while the boy sat at the helm, which he held fast in his hard seamed hands.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dram	dram	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	comfort	comfort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	conj	_	_
12	still	still	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	skipper	skipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	helm	helm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
32	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
33	seamed	seam	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	amod	_	_
34	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a dram | a great comfort |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | two |  |  |  | still | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past |  | the skipper |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot skipper=Theme |
| 4 | **sit** | past | the boy |  |  | the helm |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at helm=Location |
| 5 | **hold** | past | the helm |  |  | boy's hard seamed hands |  | fast *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in hand=Location |
| 6 | **seam** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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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