---
title: The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have overtopped the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have overtopped the mast; but the ship dived like a swan between them, and then rose again on their lofty, foaming crests. Who acts: waves, ship. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, with
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have overtopped the mast; but the ship dived like a swan between them, and then rose again on their lofty, foaming crests.

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**Who acts:** waves, ship · **What happens:** rise, overtop, dive, foam · **To what, where:** mountains, mast, lofty, crests

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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 (waves, ship), 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:pg27200:76:5
# text = The waves rose mountains high, as if they would have overtopped the mast; but the ship dived like a swan between them, and then rose again on their lofty, foaming crests.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	overtopped	overtop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	mast	mast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	dived	dive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	like	like	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	swan	swan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	between	between	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
28	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	again	again	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	lofty	lofty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	foaming	foam	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
35	crests	crest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rise** | past | the waves | mountains |  |  |  | high *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mountain=Theme |
| 2 | **overtop** *a condition, not said to happen* | would · perfect | waves *= wave* | the mast |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **dive** | past | the ship |  |  |  |  | like a swan between waves | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **rise** | past | the waves *not said here* |  |  | waves's lofty | then; again |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on lofty=Location |
| 5 | **foam** | gerund | the waves *not said here* | crests |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_modes\_being-47.2 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location crest=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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