---
title: The perpendicular rocks were covered with slippery ice, and where in… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The perpendicular rocks were covered with slippery ice, and where in summer the stream from the rocks had left a watery veil, icicles large and heavy hung from the trees, while the snow-powdered fir-trees were decorated with fantastic garlands of crystal. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, VIII. What Fresh News the Parlor-cat Had to Tell, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The perpendicular rocks were covered with slippery ice, and where in summer the stream from the rocks had left a watery veil, icicles large and heavy hung from the trees, while the snow-powdered fir-trees were decorated with fantastic garlands of crystal.

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**What happens:** cover, leave, hang, powder, decorate · **To what, where:** perpendicular rocks, stream, watery veil, trees, powdered fir trees

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, VIII. What Fresh News the Parlor-cat Had to Tell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg27200:59:26
# text = The perpendicular rocks were covered with slippery ice, and where in summer the stream from the rocks had left a watery veil, icicles large and heavy hung from the trees, while the snow-powdered fir-trees were decorated with fantastic garlands of crystal.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	perpendicular	perpendicular	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	rocks	rock	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	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	20	advmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	watery	watery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	veil	veil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	icicles	icicle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
26	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	conj	_	_
29	hung	hang	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl	_	_
30	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
34	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
36	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	powdered	powder	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	amod	_	_
39	fir	fir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	decorated	decorate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	fantastic	fantastic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	garlands	garland	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	crystal	crystal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past · passive |  | the perpendicular rocks |  |  |  | with slippery ice | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with ice=Theme |
| 2 | **leave** | past · perfect · passive |  | the stream from the rocks |  |  | summer |  | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme veil=Attribute |
| 3 | **hang** | participle |  | a watery veil and icicles *not said here* |  | the trees |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **powder** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn braid-41.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **decorate** | past · passive |  | the powdered fir trees |  |  |  | with fantastic garlands of crystal | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with garland=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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