---
title: The three seated themselves on a stone, to await in stillness the da… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The three seated themselves on a stone, to await in stillness the dawn of day, when the parent eagle would fly out, as it would be necessary to shoot the old bird before they could think of gaining possession of the young one. Who acts: three, parent eagle, Waters. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest, sentence 21

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The three seated themselves on a stone, to await in stillness the dawn of day, when the parent eagle would fly out, as it would be necessary to shoot the old bird before they could think of gaining possession of the young one.

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**Who acts:** three, parent eagle, Waters · **What happens:** seat, await, fly out, be, shoot, think · **To what, where:** Waters, stone, stillness, old bird, possession, young one

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three, parent eagle, Waters), 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:pg27200:58:21
# text = The three seated themselves on a stone, to await in stillness the dawn of day, when the parent eagle would fly out, as it would be necessary to shoot the old bird before they could think of gaining possession of the young one.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seated	seat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	await	await	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	stillness	stillness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	23	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	parent	parent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	expl	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
30	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	csubj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
40	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
41	gaining	gain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	advcl	_	_
42	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seat** | past | the three | Waters *= water* |  | a stone |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location themselves=Value |
| 2 | **await** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | stillness | dawn |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly out** | would | the parent eagle |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | would | the parent eagle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **shoot** | to-infinitive |  | the old bird |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | could | Waters *= water* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **gain** | gerund | Waters *= water* *not said here* | possession of the young one |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent possession=Theme |
| 8 | **possess** |  |  | the young one |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act 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.

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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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