---
title: It has been repeated from mouth to mouth, from one stork-mamma to an… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It has been repeated from mouth to mouth, from one stork-mamma to another, for thousands of years; and each has told it better than the last; and now we mean to tell it better than all. Who acts: we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter,
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 1, sentence 5

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It has been repeated from mouth to mouth, from one stork-mamma to another, for thousands of years; and each has told it better than the last; and now we mean to tell it better than all.

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** repeat, tell, mean · **To what, where:** youngest, mouth, each · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we), 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:pg27200:83:5
# text = It has been repeated from mouth to mouth, from one stork-mamma to another, for thousands of years; and each has told it better than the last; and now we mean to tell it better than all.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
12	stork	stork	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	mamma	mamma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	26	advmod	_	_
29	than	than	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	36	advmod	_	_
35	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	38	xcomp	_	_
41	than	than	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repeat** | present · perfect · passive |  | youngest *= young* |  | mouth to mouth |  | from one stork mamma to another; for thousands of years | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · perfect · passive |  | each | youngest *= young* |  |  | well *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient it=Topic |
| 3 | **mean** | present | we |  |  |  | now |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  | youngest *= young* |  |  | good *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient |

<!-- .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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