---
title: The ploughshare struck against something which he fancied was a fire… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The ploughshare struck against something which he fancied was a firestone, and then he saw glittering in the earth a splinter of shining metal which the plough had cut from something which gleamed brightly in the furrow. Who acts: ploughshare, sun, firestone, splinter. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Ib and Little Christina, sentence 161

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The ploughshare struck against something which he fancied was a firestone, and then he saw glittering in the earth a splinter of shining metal which the plough had cut from something which gleamed brightly in the furrow.

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**Who acts:** ploughshare, sun, firestone, splinter · **What happens:** strike, fancy, be, see, glitter, shine · **To what, where:** ploughshare, something, firestone, earth, metal, furrow

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ib and Little Christina. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ploughshare, sun, firestone, splinter), 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:pg27200:51:161
# text = The ploughshare struck against something which he fancied was a firestone, and then he saw glittering in the earth a splinter of shining metal which the plough had cut from something which gleamed brightly in the furrow.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ploughshare	ploughshare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
3	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	against	against	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	firestone	firestone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
17	glittering	glitter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	xcomp	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	splinter	splinter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
23	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	shining	shine	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	acl	_	_
25	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	plough	plough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl:relcl	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	30	obl	_	_
33	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
34	gleamed	gleam	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
35	brightly	brightly	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	furrow	furrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | participle |  | the ploughshare *not said here* |  | something |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against something=Location |
| 2 | **fancy** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** | past | the ploughshare | a firestone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | past | sun | a firestone *not said here* |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **glitter** | gerund | a firestone *not said here* |  |  | the earth and a splinter |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in earth=Location |
| 6 | **shine** | gerund | a splinter *not said here* | metal |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent metal=Theme |
| 7 | **cut** | past · perfect · passive |  | metal |  | something |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: subject=Product from something=Material |
| 8 | **gleam** | past |  |  |  | the furrow |  | brightly *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in furrow=Location |

<!-- .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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