--- title: In a narrow creek she found a whole troop of little human children,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: In a narrow creek she found a whole troop of little human children, quite naked, and sporting about in the water; she wanted to play with them, but they fled in a great fright; and then a little black animal came to the water; it was a dog, but she did not know that, for she had never before seen on --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/47/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Little Mermaid, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/) / 47 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1, sentence 47 In a narrow creek she found a whole troop of little human children, quite naked, and sporting about in the water; she wanted to play with them, but they fled in a great fright; and then a little black animal came to the water; it was a dog, but she did not know that, for she had never before seen one. **Who acts:** turn, rays, little black animal, water · **What happens:** find, sport, want, play, flee, come · **To what, where:** whole troop, narrow creek, water, great fright, dog, that · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (turn, rays, little black animal, water), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:75:47 # text = In a narrow creek she found a whole troop of little human children, quite naked, and sporting about in the water; she wanted to play with them, but they fled in a great fright; and then a little black animal came to the water; it was a dog, but she did not know that, for she had never before seen one. 1 In in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 narrow narrow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 creek creek NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 5 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 troop troop NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 12 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 quite quite ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 naked naked ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 sporting sport VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 advcl _ _ 20 about about ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 21 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ; ; PUNCT : _ 26 punct _ _ 25 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 28 mark _ _ 28 play play VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 29 with with ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 but but CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 fled flee VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 35 in in ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 fright fright NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ; ; PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 41 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 46 advmod _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 43 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 44 black black ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 animal animal NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nsubj _ _ 46 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 47 to to ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 ; ; PUNCT : _ 54 punct _ _ 51 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 54 nsubj _ _ 52 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 cop _ _ 53 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 dog dog NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 55 , , PUNCT , _ 60 punct _ _ 56 but but CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 57 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 60 nsubj _ _ 58 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 60 aux _ _ 59 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 60 advmod _ _ 60 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 46 conj _ _ 61 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 60 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 62 , , PUNCT , _ 68 punct _ _ 63 for for SCONJ IN _ 68 mark _ _ 64 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 68 nsubj _ _ 65 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 68 aux _ _ 66 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 67 advmod _ _ 67 before before ADV RB _ 68 advmod _ _ 68 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 60 ccomp _ _ 69 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 68 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 70 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **find** | past | turn | a whole troop of little human children | | a narrow creek | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent troop=Topic | | 2 | **sport** | gerund | turn *not said here* | | | the water | | about *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **want** | past | turn | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 4 | **play** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | turn *not said here* | | | | | with children *= child* | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with they=Theme | | 5 | **flee** | past | rays *= ray* | | | a great fright | | | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **come** | past | a little black animal | | | the water | then | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to water=Initial\_Location | | 7 | **is a** | past | water | a dog | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | turn | that | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **see** | past · perfect | turn | one | | | | before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/46/) - next →: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/48/) - ↑ back to [The Little Mermaid, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/)