--- title: They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/63/) [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/) / 63 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 1, sentence 63 They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom. **Who acts:** sisters, begging, storm · **What happens:** have, be, expect, lose, swim, sing · **To what, where:** beautiful voices, ship, vessel, depths, sailors · **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 (sisters, begging, storm), 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:pg27200:75:63 # text = They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 4 advmod _ _ 4 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 voices voice NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obj _ _ 6 than than ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 5 nmod _ _ 8 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 advcl _ _ 9 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 11 cop _ _ 10 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 11 have have VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 14 before before ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 approach approach NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 conj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 storm storm NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 22 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 24 advmod _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 expected expect VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 advcl _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 ship ship NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj:pass _ _ 27 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 28 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 29 aux:pass _ _ 29 lost lose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 31 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 swam swim VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 33 before before ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 vessel vessel NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 38 sang sing VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 conj _ _ 39 sweetly sweetly ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 delights delight NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obl _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 44 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 45 aux:pass _ _ 45 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 42 acl _ _ 46 in in ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 depths depth NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 obl _ _ 49 of of ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 54 begging beg VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 59 csubj _ _ 55 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 sailors sailor NOUN NNS Number=Plur 54 obj _ _ 57 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 59 advmod _ _ 58 to to PART TO _ 59 mark _ _ 59 fear fear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 60 if if SCONJ IN _ 62 mark _ _ 61 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 62 nsubj _ _ 62 sank sink VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 advcl _ _ 63 to to ADP IN _ 65 case _ _ 64 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 65 bottom bottom NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | sisters *= sister* | beautiful voices | | | | than any | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent voice=Patient | | 2 | **is** | could · gerund | | | | | | have *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **expect** | past | sisters *= sister* | | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **lose** | would · passive | | a ship | | | | | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | | 5 | **swim** | past | sisters *= sister* | | | the vessel | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before vessel=Trajectory | | 6 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | sisters *= sister* *not said here* | | | | | of the delights; sweetly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **find** | to-infinitive · passive | sisters *= sister* *not said here* | | | the depths of the sea | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF» | | 8 | **beg** *speech: request* | gerund | | the sailors | | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent sailor=Recipient | | 9 | **not** **fear** | to-infinitive | begging | | | | | | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 10 | **sink** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | sisters *= sister* | | | | | to the bottom | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 11 | **approach** | | a storm | | | | | | nom approach «act intransitive»: of=agent | 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 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/62/) - next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/64/) - ↑ back to [The Little Mermaid, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/75/)