---
title: She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and while her sisters… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers, like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue. Who acts: sun, sisters. A sentence of
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1, sentence 22

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She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers, like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue.

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**Who acts:** sun, sisters · **What happens:** be, delight, obtain, care, except, wreck · **To what, where:** sisters, wonderful things, wrecks, beautiful marble statue, vessels

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sun, sisters), 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:pg27200:75:22
# text = She was a strange child, quiet and thoughtful; and while her sisters would be delighted with the wonderful things which they obtained from the wrecks of vessels, she cared for nothing but her pretty red flowers, like the sun, excepting a beautiful marble statue.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	thoughtful	thoughtful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
12	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	delighted	delight	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wrecks	wreck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	vessels	vessel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	cared	care	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	32	obl	_	_
35	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
37	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	like	like	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	excepting	except	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
47	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
48	marble	marble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	statue	statue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | sun |  |  |  |  | quiet *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | sun *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **delight** | would · passive |  | sun's sisters |  |  |  | with the wonderful things | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **obtain** | past | sisters *= sister* | the wonderful things |  | the wrecks of vessels |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent which=Theme from wreck=Source |
| 5 | **care** | past | sun |  |  |  |  | for nothing; like the sun | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for nothing=Theme |
| 6 | **except** | gerund | sun *not said here* | a beautiful marble statue |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **wreck** |  |  | vessels |  |  |  |  | nom wreck «state transitive»: of=patient |

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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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