---
title: The hens were hopping about the floor; one of them had no tail; a tr… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The hens were hopping about the floor; one of them had no tail; a traveller, who fancied himself a sportsman, had shot off her tail, he had mistaken her for a bird of prey. Who acts: hens, one, traveller, Rudy. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, II. the Journey
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, II. the Journey to the New Home, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hens were hopping about the floor; one of them had no tail; a traveller, who fancied himself a sportsman, had shot off her tail, he had mistaken her for a bird of prey.

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**Who acts:** hens, one, traveller, Rudy · **What happens:** hop, have, fancy, shoot off, mistake · **To what, where:** tail, Rudy, Ajola

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, II. the Journey to the New Home. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hens, one, traveller, Rudy), 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:pg27200:53:24
# text = The hens were hopping about the floor; one of them had no tail; a traveller, who fancied himself a sportsman, had shot off her tail, he had mistaken her for a bird of prey.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	hopping	hop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nmod	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	traveller	traveller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
20	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sportsman	sportsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	shot	shoot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	parataxis	_	_
27	off	off	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	mistaken	mistake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	conj	_	_
34	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hop** | past · progressive | the hens |  |  |  |  | about the floor | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about floor=Trajectory |
| 2 | **have** | past | one of hens | no tail |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient |
| 3 | **fancy** | past | a traveller | Rudy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **shoot off** | past · perfect |  | Ajola's tail |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme |
| 5 | **mistake** | past · perfect | Rudy | Ajola |  |  |  | for a bird of prey | 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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