--- title: With great difficulty they contrived to drag the two ladders over th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: With great difficulty they contrived to drag the two ladders over the rock, and there they hung for some moments, swaying over the abyss; but no sooner had they fastened them together, than Rudy placed his foot on the lowest step. Who acts: sides, Rudy. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/58/31/) [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/) / [VII. the Eagle's Nest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/58/) / 31 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest, sentence 31 With great difficulty they contrived to drag the two ladders over the rock, and there they hung for some moments, swaying over the abyss; but no sooner had they fastened them together, than Rudy placed his foot on the lowest step. **Who acts:** sides, Rudy · **What happens:** contrive, drag, hang, sway, have, fasten · **To what, where:** two ladders, rock, abyss, ladders, foot 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 (sides, Rudy), 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:pg27200:58:31 # text = With great difficulty they contrived to drag the two ladders over the rock, and there they hung for some moments, swaying over the abyss; but no sooner had they fastened them together, than Rudy placed his foot on the lowest step. 1 With with ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 difficulty difficulty NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 4 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 contrived contrive VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 drag drag VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 xcomp _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 10 nummod _ _ 10 ladders ladder NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obj _ _ 11 over over ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 16 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 18 expl _ _ 17 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 hung hang VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 19 for for ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 21 det _ _ 21 moments moment NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 23 swaying sway VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 24 over over ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 abyss abyss NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT : _ 31 punct _ _ 28 but but CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 29 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 30 det _ _ 30 sooner soon ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 31 advmod _ _ 31 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 32 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 fastened fasten VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 ccomp _ _ 34 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 together together ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 than than SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 38 Rudy Rudy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ _ 39 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 conj _ _ 40 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 42 on on ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 lowest low ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 45 amod _ _ 45 step step NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **contrive** | past | sides *= side* | | | | | with great difficulty | tree rules | | 2 | **drag** | to-infinitive | sides *= side* *not said here* | the two ladders | | the rock | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ladder=Theme | | 3 | **hang** | past | sides *= side* | | | there | moment | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **sway** | gerund | sides *= side* *not said here* | | | the abyss | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over abyss=Location | | 5 | **have** | past | | | | | | soon *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **fasten** | past | sides *= side* | ladders *= ladder* | | | | together *property* | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | | 7 | **place** | past | Rudy | Rudy's foot | | | | on the lowest step | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent foot=Theme on step=Destination | 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 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/58/30/) - next →: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/58/32/) - ↑ back to [VII. the Eagle's Nest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/58/)