---
title: The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth, on which stood… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth, on which stood a splendid dinner service, and a steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Match-seller, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Match-seller, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth, on which stood a splendid dinner service, and a steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums.

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** cover, stand, steam, stuff, dry · **To what, where:** table, splendid dinner service, steaming roast goose

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Match-seller. 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:pg27200:74:24
# text = The table was covered with a snowy white table-cloth, on which stood a splendid dinner service, and a steaming roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried plums.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
7	snowy	snowy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
8	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
9	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
17	splendid	splendid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
18	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	steaming	steam	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	amod	_	_
24	roast	roast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	goose	goose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	stuffed	stuff	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	apples	apple	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	amod	_	_
32	plums	plum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past · passive |  | the table |  |  |  | with a snowy white table cloth | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with cloth=Theme |
| 2 | **stand** | past |  | a splendid dinner service |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer service=Stimulus |
| 3 | **steam** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **stuff** | participle · passive |  | a steaming roast goose |  |  |  | with apples and dried plums | vn spray-9.7-2 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: subject=Destination with apple=Theme |
| 5 | **dry** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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