---
title: The solemn stillness that reigned around them was now and then broke… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The solemn stillness that reigned around them was now and then broken by the shrill cries of the great horned owl and other birds that they knew nothing of. Who acts: solemn stillness, shrill cries, oaks, great horned owl. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ib 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Ib and Little Christina, sentence 46

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The solemn stillness that reigned around them was now and then broken by the shrill cries of the great horned owl and other birds that they knew nothing of.

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**Who acts:** solemn stillness, shrill cries, oaks, great horned owl · **What happens:** reign, break, know, cry · **To what, where:** solemn stillness, nothing

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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 (solemn stillness, shrill cries, oaks, great horned owl), 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:pg27200:51:46
# text = The solemn stillness that reigned around them was now and then broken by the shrill cries of the great horned owl and other birds that they knew nothing of.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	solemn	solemn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stillness	stillness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	reigned	reign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	around	around	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
9	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
12	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	shrill	shrill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	horned	horned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
28	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	27	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reign** | past | the solemn stillness |  |  |  |  | around oaks *= oak* | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | past · passive | the shrill cries of the great horned owl and other birds | the solemn stillness |  |  | now; then |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Patient |
| 3 | **know** | past | oaks *= oak* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 4 | **cry** |  | the great horned owl and other birds |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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