---
title: Then a shot was fired; for an instant the bird fluttered its wide-sp… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then a shot was fired; for an instant the bird fluttered its wide-spreading wings, and seemed as if it would fill up the whole of the chasm, and drag down the hunters in its fall. Who acts: bird, shot. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest, w
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then a shot was fired; for an instant the bird fluttered its wide-spreading wings, and seemed as if it would fill up the whole of the chasm, and drag down the hunters in its fall.

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**Who acts:** bird, shot · **What happens:** fire, flutter, spread, seem, fill up, drag down · **To what, where:** shot, spreading wings, whole, hunters, fall

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (bird, shot), 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:pg27200:58:26
# text = Then a shot was fired; for an instant the bird fluttered its wide-spreading wings, and seemed as if it would fill up the whole of the chasm, and drag down the hunters in its fall.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	shot	shot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	fired	fire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	fluttered	flutter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
14	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	spreading	spread	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	amod	_	_
17	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
26	up	up	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	chasm	chasm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	drag	drag	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
35	down	down	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	hunters	hunter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	fall	fall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fire** | past · passive |  | a shot |  |  | then |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **flutter** | past | the bird | bird's spreading wings |  |  |  | for a instant | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme |
| 3 | **spread** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **seem** | past | the bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **fill up** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | shot | the whole |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent whole=Patient |
| 6 | **drag down** | infinitive | the bird *not said here* | the hunters |  | bird's fall |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hunter=Theme |

<!-- .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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