---
title: Through the midst of these crushing whirlpools the little mermaid wa… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Through the midst of these crushing whirlpools the little mermaid was obliged to pass, to reach the dominions of the sea witch; and also for a long distance the only road lay right across a quantity of warm, bubbling mire, called by the witch her turfmoor. Who acts: only road, mire. A sentence of «F
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, sentence 81

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Through the midst of these crushing whirlpools the little mermaid was obliged to pass, to reach the dominions of the sea witch; and also for a long distance the only road lay right across a quantity of warm, bubbling mire, called by the witch her turfmoor.

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**Who acts:** only road, mire · **What happens:** crush, whirlpool, oblige, pass, reach, lie · **To what, where:** midst, little mermaid, dominions, quantity, mire, turfmoor · **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 (only road, mire), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:76:81
# text = Through the midst of these crushing whirlpools the little mermaid was obliged to pass, to reach the dominions of the sea witch; and also for a long distance the only road lay right across a quantity of warm, bubbling mire, called by the witch her turfmoor.
1	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	nmod	_	_
6	crushing	crush	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	nsubj	_	_
7	whirlpools	whirlpool	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	ccomp	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	dominions	dominion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
26	also	also	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
35	right	right	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
36	across	across	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
42	bubbling	bubble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
43	mire	mire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	acl	_	_
46	by	by	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	turfmoor	turfmoor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crush** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **whirlpool** | present |  |  |  | the midst of these |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | the little mermaid |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 4 | **pass** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | the dominions of the sea witch |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent dominion=Theme |
| 6 | **lie** | past | the only road | a quantity of warm |  |  |  | for a long distance | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location quantity=Theme |
| 7 | **bubble** | gerund | the only road *not said here* | mire |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mire=Source |
| 8 | **call** | participle | mire *not said here* | mermaid's turfmoor |  |  |  | by the witch | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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