--- title: At about a hundred paces behind him stood Rudy, upon the highest poi… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: At about a hundred paces behind him stood Rudy, upon the highest point of the rock, watching a great vulture hovering in the air; with a single stroke of his wing the bird might easily cast the creeping hunter into the abyss beneath, and make him his prey. Who acts: paces, great vulture, bird. A sen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/33/) [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/) / [III. the Uncle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/) / 33 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, III. the Uncle, sentence 33 At about a hundred paces behind him stood Rudy, upon the highest point of the rock, watching a great vulture hovering in the air; with a single stroke of his wing the bird might easily cast the creeping hunter into the abyss beneath, and make him his prey. **Who acts:** paces, great vulture, bird · **What happens:** stand, watch, hover, cast, creep, make · **To what, where:** Rudy, hundred, great vulture, air, creeping hunter, abyss This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, III. the Uncle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (paces, great vulture, bird), 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:pg27200:54:33 # text = At about a hundred paces behind him stood Rudy, upon the highest point of the rock, watching a great vulture hovering in the air; with a single stroke of his wing the bird might easily cast the creeping hunter into the abyss beneath, and make him his prey. 1 At at ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 about about ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 8 obl _ _ 5 paces pace NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 6 behind behind ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nmod _ _ 8 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 Rudy Rudy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 11 upon upon ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 highest high ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 14 amod _ _ 14 point point NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 19 watching watch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 vulture vulture NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 23 hovering hover VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 22 acl _ _ 24 in in ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT : _ 39 punct _ _ 28 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 single single ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 stroke stroke NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 wing wing NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nmod _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ _ 37 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 38 easily easily ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 39 cast cast VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 conj _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 41 creeping creep VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 42 amod _ _ 42 hunter hunter NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 43 into into ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 abyss abyss NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ _ 46 beneath beneath ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 49 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 conj _ _ 50 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 obj _ _ 51 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 52 prey prey NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stand** | past | paces behind uncle | Rudy | | a hundred | | upon the highest point of the rock | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent rudy=Theme at hundred=Destination | | 2 | **watch** | gerund | paces behind uncle *not said here* | a great vulture | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vulture=Theme | | 3 | **hover** | gerund | a great vulture *not said here* | | | the air | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in air=Location | | 4 | **cast** | might | the bird | the creeping hunter | | the abyss | | with a single stroke of uncle's wing; easily *property* | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent hunter=Material into abyss=Product | | 5 | **creep** | gerund | | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **make** | infinitive | the bird *not said here* | uncle's prey | Rudy | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset he=Beneficiary prey=Product | | 7 | **point** | | | the rock | | | | | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient | | 8 | **stroke** | | | uncle's wing | | | | | nom stroke «act transitive»: of=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 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/32/) - next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/34/) - ↑ back to [III. the Uncle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/)