---
title: The higher branches were snapped off, and carried away to a great di… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The higher branches were snapped off, and carried away to a great distance; and among these shattered branches lay Rudy's uncle, with his skull fractured. Who acts: shattered branches, skull. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, III. the Uncle, with its dependenc
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/47/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 47

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, III. the Uncle, sentence 47

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The higher branches were snapped off, and carried away to a great distance; and among these shattered branches lay Rudy's uncle, with his skull fractured.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** shattered branches, skull · **What happens:** snap off, carry away, lay, fracture · **To what, where:** higher branches, uncle

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (shattered branches, skull), 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:pg27200:54:47
# text = The higher branches were snapped off, and carried away to a great distance; and among these shattered branches lay Rudy's uncle, with his skull fractured.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	snapped	snap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	among	among	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
19	shattered	shattered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	Rudy	Rudy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	's	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	fractured	fracture	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **snap off** | past · passive |  | the higher branches |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **carry away** | past |  |  |  |  |  | to a great distance; away *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to distance=Destination |
| 3 | **lay** | present | this shattered branches | Rudy's uncle |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent uncle=Result |
| 4 | **fracture** | past | Rudy's skull |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/46/)
- next →: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/48/)
- ↑ back to [III. the Uncle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/54/)