---
title: He was not asleep, neither was he dead; but just as the various even… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He was not asleep, neither was he dead; but just as the various events in the world--matters of momentous importance to individuals--were flying through the telegraph wires, without the quiver of a wire or the slightest tone, so, through the mind of Rudy, thoughts of overwhelming importance were pas
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/55/51/)

<!-- 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/) / [IV. Babette](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/55/) / 51

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, IV. Babette, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was not asleep, neither was he dead; but just as the various events in the world--matters of momentous importance to individuals--were flying through the telegraph wires, without the quiver of a wire or the slightest tone, so, through the mind of Rudy, thoughts of overwhelming importance were passing, without an outward sign of emotion.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Rudy, various events, thoughts, momentous importance, wire · **What happens:** not be, be, fly, pass, matter, quiver · **To what, where:** telegraph wires, mind, Rudy, overwhelming importance, emotion

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, IV. Babette. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Rudy, various events, thoughts, momentous importance), 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:pg27200:55:51
# text = He was not asleep, neither was he dead; but just as the various events in the world--matters of momentous importance to individuals--were flying through the telegraph wires, without the quiver of a wire or the slightest tone, so, through the mind of Rudy, thoughts of overwhelming importance were passing, without an outward sign of emotion.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	9	cc:preconj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	just	just	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	various	various	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	matters	matter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	momentous	momentous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	individuals	individual	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	acl	_	_
30	through	through	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	telegraph	telegraph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	wires	wire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	without	without	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	quiver	quiver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	wire	wire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
41	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	slightest	slight	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	44	amod	_	_
44	tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	so	so	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	through	through	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	Rudy	Rudy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
54	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nsubj	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	overwhelming	overwhelming	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	_
58	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	50	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
61	without	without	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
62	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	outward	outward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	conj	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	emotion	emotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | Rudy |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | Rudy |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly** | past · progressive | the various events in the world and matters of momentous importance to individuals *not said here* |  |  | the telegraph wires |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through wire=Location |
| 4 | **pass** | past · progressive | thoughts of overwhelming importance | the mind of Rudy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mind=Trajectory |
| 5 | **matter** |  | momentous importance to individuals |  |  |  |  |  | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |
| 6 | **quiver** |  | a wire or the slightest tone |  |  |  |  |  | nom quiver «feeling intransitive»: of=agent |
| 7 | **mind** |  |  | Rudy |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **think** |  |  | overwhelming importance |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **sign** |  |  | emotion |  |  |  |  | nom sign «communication transitive»: of=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 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/55/50/)
- next →: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/55/52/)
- ↑ back to [IV. Babette](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/55/)