--- title: We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love. Who acts: We. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/76/54/) [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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/76/) / 54 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, sentence 54 We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love. **Who acts:** We · **What happens:** live, cease, exist, become, have, love · **To what, where:** foam, grave 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 (We), 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:pg27200:76:54 # text = We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love. 1 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 sometimes sometimes ADV RB PronType=Ind 3 advmod _ _ 3 live live VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 compound _ _ 6 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 10 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 12 advmod _ _ 11 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 cease cease VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 exist exist VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 15 here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 14 advmod _ _ 16 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 only only ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 become become VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 parataxis _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 foam foam NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 xcomp _ _ 21 on on ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 surface surface NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 29 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 32 even even ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 grave grave NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 35 down down ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 30 advmod _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 those that PRON DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 36 obl _ _ 39 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 love love VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **live** | present | We | | | | year | sometimes *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **cease** | present | we | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **exist** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | | | here | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **become** | present | we | the foam on the surface of the water | | | | | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **have** | present | we | a grave | | here | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grave=Patient | | 6 | **love** | present | we | | | | | | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer | 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 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/76/53/) - next →: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/76/55/) - ↑ back to [The Little Mermaid, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/76/)