---
title: A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a counterpane. Who acts: walnut shell. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Little Tiny or Thumbelina, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Little Tiny or Thumbelina, sentence 10

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A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a counterpane.

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**Who acts:** walnut shell · **What happens:** polish, serve, form · **To what, where:** walnut shell, flower, bed

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Little Tiny or Thumbelina. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (walnut shell), 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:pg27200:79:10
# text = A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a counterpane.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	walnut	walnut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	elegantly	elegantly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	polished	polish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	cradle	cradle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
21	violet	violet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	counterpane	counterpane	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **polish** | participle |  | a walnut shell *not said here* |  |  |  | elegantly *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **serve** | past | a walnut shell | flower |  |  |  | for a cradle | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Theme for cradle=Recipient |
| 3 | **form** | past · passive |  | flower's bed |  |  |  | of blue violet leaves; with a rose leaf for a counterpane | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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