---
title: When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she k… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship. Who acts: 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.

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**Who acts:** something, turn, cloud, whale, human beings, pretty little mermaid · **What happens:** pass, know, be, swim, not imagine, stand · **To what, where:** whale, head, white hands · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (something, turn, cloud, whale), 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:pg27200:75:37
# text = When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	nsubj	_	_
3	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
8	between	between	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc:preconj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	ccomp	_	_
21	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	_
22	over	over	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	parataxis	_	_
29	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
35	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	imagined	imagine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
39	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
40	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	advcl	_	_
44	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
48	out	out	ADP	RP	_	47	compound:prt	_	_
49	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
50	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
52	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	keel	keel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | something |  |  |  |  | between turn | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme between she=Location |
| 2 | **know** | past | turn |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** | past | cloud | a whale |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **swim** | gerund | a whale *not said here* |  |  | turn's head |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over head=Trajectory |
| 5 | **not** **imagine** | past | human beings |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **stand** | past · progressive | a pretty little mermaid |  |  |  |  | beneath moon | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beneath they=Location |
| 7 | **hold out** | gerund | a pretty little mermaid *not said here* | turn's white hands |  |  |  | towards the keel of moon's ship | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=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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- ↑ back to [The Little Mermaid, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/)