---
title: The white skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea, and had… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The white skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea, and had sunk down into the deep waters, skeletons of land animals, oars, rudders, and chests of ships were lying tightly grasped by their clinging arms; even a little mermaid, whom they had caught and strangled; and this seemed the most sh
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 2, sentence 89

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The white skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea, and had sunk down into the deep waters, skeletons of land animals, oars, rudders, and chests of ships were lying tightly grasped by their clinging arms; even a little mermaid, whom they had caught and strangled; and this seemed the most shocking of all to the little princess.

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**Who acts:** chests, this · **What happens:** perish, sink down, lie, grasp, catch, strangle · **To what, where:** white skeletons, sea, deep waters, little mermaid

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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 (chests, this), 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:pg27200:76:89
# text = The white skeletons of human beings who had perished at sea, and had sunk down into the deep waters, skeletons of land animals, oars, rudders, and chests of ships were lying tightly grasped by their clinging arms; even a little mermaid, whom they had caught and strangled; and this seemed the most shocking of all to the little princess.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	skeletons	skeleton	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	perished	perish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	sunk	sink	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
16	down	down	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	into	into	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	skeletons	skeleton	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	oars	oar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	rudders	rudder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
32	chests	chest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
37	tightly	tightly	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	grasped	grasp	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	advcl	_	_
39	by	by	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
41	clinging	clinging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	_
42	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
44	even	even	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj:pass	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj:pass	_	_
51	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	parataxis	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	strangled	strangle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
57	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	58	nsubj	_	_
58	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	61	advmod	_	_
61	shocking	shocking	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	xcomp	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	61	obl	_	_
64	to	to	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
66	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	amod	_	_
67	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perish** | past · perfect · passive |  | the white skeletons |  | sea |  | of human beings | tree rules |
| 2 | **sink down** | past · perfect |  |  |  | the deep waters and skeletons of land animals and oars and rudders |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **lie** | past · progressive | chests of ships |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **grasp** | participle | chests of ships *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by skeletons's clinging arms; tightly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **catch** | past · perfect · passive |  | a little mermaid |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **strangle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **seem** | past | this |  |  |  |  | shocking *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=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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