---
title: The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches; it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to kiss each other. Who acts: shadow, it, crown. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1, wit
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1, sentence 26

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The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches; it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to kiss each other.

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**Who acts:** shadow, it, crown · **What happens:** have, wave, fro, seem, be, try · **To what, where:** violet tint, play, each, tree

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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 (shadow, it, crown), 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:pg27200:75:26
# text = The shadow had a violet tint, and waved to and fro like the branches; it seemed as if the crown of the tree and the root were at play, and trying to kiss each other.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	violet	violet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	tint	tint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	waved	wave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	fro	fro	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
13	like	like	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	crown	crown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	trying	try	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	xcomp	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	kiss	kiss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	36	obj	_	_
38	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the shadow | a violet tint |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tint=Patient |
| 2 | **wave** | past | the shadow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fro** | infinitive | the shadow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like the branches | tree rules |
| 4 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the crown of the tree and the root |  |  | play |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **try** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **kiss** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | each |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent each=Co-Agent |
| 8 | **crown** |  |  | the tree and the root |  |  |  |  | nom crown «communication transitive»: of=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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