--- title: If the polypi should seize hold of you as you return through the woo… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: If the polypi should seize hold of you as you return through the wood," said the witch, "throw over them a few drops of the potion, and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces." Who acts: polypi, you. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Merm --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/77/34/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/77/) / 34 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 3, sentence 34 If the polypi should seize hold of you as you return through the wood," said the witch, "throw over them a few drops of the potion, and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces." **Who acts:** polypi, you · **What happens:** seize, return, say, throw, tear, hold · **To what, where:** hold, wood, witch, few drops, fingers, thousand pieces · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (polypi, you), 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:pg27200:77:34 # text = If the polypi should seize hold of you as you return through the wood," said the witch, "throw over them a few drops of the potion, and their fingers will be torn into a thousand pieces." 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 polypi polypi NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 4 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 seize seize VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 advcl _ _ 6 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 6 nmod _ _ 9 as as SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 return return VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 12 through through ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 17 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 witch witch NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 " " PUNCT `` _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 throw throw VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 conj _ _ 23 over over ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 obl _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 drops drop NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obj _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 potion potion NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 33 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 fingers finger NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 36 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 37 aux:pass _ _ 37 torn tear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 conj _ _ 38 into into ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 41 nummod _ _ 41 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 " " PUNCT '' _ 17 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seize** *a condition, not said to happen* | should | the polypi | hold of you | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme | | 2 | **return** | present | you | | | the wood | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through wood=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | | the witch | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent witch=Topic | | 4 | **throw** | infinitive | | a few drops of the potion | | | | over snakes *= snake* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent drop=Theme over they=Destination | | 5 | **tear** | future · passive | | snakes's fingers | | | | into thousand pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: subject=Patient into piece=Result | | 6 | **hold** | | | you | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient | 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 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/77/33/) - next →: [sentence 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/77/35/) - ↑ back to [The Little Mermaid, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/77/)