---
title: The little mermaid could not help thinking of her first rising out o… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The little mermaid could not help thinking of her first rising out of the sea, when she had seen similar festivities and joys; and she joined in the dance, poised herself in the air as a swallow when he pursues his prey, and all present cheered her with wonder. Who acts: little mermaid, bridegroom, 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/78/14/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/78/) / 14

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 4, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little mermaid could not help thinking of her first rising out of the sea, when she had seen similar festivities and joys; and she joined in the dance, poised herself in the air as a swallow when he pursues his prey, and all present cheered her with wonder.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** little mermaid, bridegroom, mermaid, present · **What happens:** not help, think, rise, see, join, poise · **To what, where:** sea, similar festivities, bridegroom, air, prey

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little mermaid, bridegroom, mermaid, present), 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:pg27200:78:14
# text = The little mermaid could not help thinking of her first rising out of the sea, when she had seen similar festivities and joys; and she joined in the dance, poised herself in the air as a swallow when he pursues his prey, and all present cheered her with wonder.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	obl	_	_
11	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	20	mark	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
21	similar	similar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	festivities	festivity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	joys	joy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	joined	join	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	dance	dance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	poised	poise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
34	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	33	obj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	swallow	swallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
41	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	43	advmod	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	pursues	pursue	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	49	det	_	_
49	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
50	cheered	cheer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
51	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	wonder	wonder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **help** | could | the little mermaid |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | gerund | the little mermaid *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of bridegroom's first | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **rise** | gerund |  |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent out sea=Location |
| 4 | **see** | past · perfect | bridegroom | similar festivities and joys |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer festivity=Stimulus |
| 5 | **join** | past | bridegroom |  |  |  |  | in the dance | vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in dance=Theme |
| 6 | **poise** | past | bridegroom *not said here* | bridegroom |  | the air |  | as a swallow | tree rules |
| 7 | **pursue** | present | mermaid | mermaid's prey |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Theme |
| 8 | **cheer** | past | all present | bridegroom |  |  |  | with wonder | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/78/13/)
- next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/78/15/)
- ↑ back to [The Little Mermaid, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/78/)