---
title: The little mermaid swam out farther from the shore and placed hersel… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The little mermaid swam out farther from the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that rose out of the water; then she covered her head and neck with the foam of the sea so that her little face might not be seen, and watched to see what would become of the poor prince. Who acts: little m
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, sentence 23

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The little mermaid swam out farther from the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that rose out of the water; then she covered her head and neck with the foam of the sea so that her little face might not be seen, and watched to see what would become of the poor prince.

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**Who acts:** little mermaid, high rocks, mermaid · **What happens:** swim, place, rise, cover, not see, watch · **To what, where:** mermaid, high rocks, water, head, little face · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little mermaid, high rocks, mermaid), 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:pg27200:76:23
# text = The little mermaid swam out farther from the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that rose out of the water; then she covered her head and neck with the foam of the sea so that her little face might not be seen, and watched to see what would become of the poor prince.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	swam	swim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	farther	far	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obj	_	_
13	between	between	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
15	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
19	out	out	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
24	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	covered	cover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	foam	foam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
38	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
40	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
43	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	45	advmod	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	53	nsubj	_	_
52	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	ccomp	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swim** | past | the little mermaid |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **place** | past | the little mermaid *not said here* | mermaid |  | some high rocks |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent herself=Theme between rock=Destination |
| 3 | **rise** | past | some high rocks |  |  | the water |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent out water=Location |
| 4 | **cover** | past | mermaid | mermaid's head and neck |  |  | then | with the foam of the sea | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent head=Destination with foam=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **see** | might · passive |  | mermaid's little face |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 6 | **watch** | past | the little mermaid *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **see** | to-infinitive | the little mermaid *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **become** | would |  |  |  |  |  | of the poor prince | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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