--- title: The gray pyramids looked like broken shadows in the clear air and th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: The gray pyramids looked like broken shadows in the clear air and the far-off desert, where the ostrich wheels his rapid flight, and the lion, with his subtle eyes, gazes at the marble sphinx which lies half buried in sand. Who acts: gray pyramids, ostrich wheels, marble sphinx. A sentence of «Fairy --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/45/) [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 Marsh King's Daughter, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/) / 45 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 2, sentence 45 The gray pyramids looked like broken shadows in the clear air and the far-off desert, where the ostrich wheels his rapid flight, and the lion, with his subtle eyes, gazes at the marble sphinx which lies half buried in sand. **Who acts:** gray pyramids, ostrich wheels, marble sphinx · **What happens:** look, break, flight, lie, bury · **To what, where:** sand This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, 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 (gray pyramids, ostrich wheels, marble sphinx), 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:pg27200:84:45 # text = The gray pyramids looked like broken shadows in the clear air and the far-off desert, where the ostrich wheels his rapid flight, and the lion, with his subtle eyes, gazes at the marble sphinx which lies half buried in sand. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 gray gray ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 pyramids pyramid NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 like like ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 broken break VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 7 amod _ _ 7 shadows shadow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 clear clear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 14 far far ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 off off ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 desert desert NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 19 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 25 advmod _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 ostrich ostrich NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 compound _ _ 22 wheels wheel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nsubj _ _ 23 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 24 rapid rapid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 flight flight NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 lion lion NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 with with ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 33 subtle subtle ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 36 gazes gaze NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 conj _ _ 37 at at ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 marble marble NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 compound _ _ 40 sphinx sphinx NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ _ 41 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 42 nsubj _ _ 42 lies lie VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 acl:relcl _ _ 43 half half ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 44 advmod _ _ 44 buried bury VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 42 advcl _ _ 45 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 sand sand NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **look** | past | the gray pyramids | | | | | like broken shadows; in the clear air and the far desert and palm's rapid flight | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in air=Theme | | 2 | **break** | participle | | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **flight** | | the ostrich wheels | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **lie** | present | the marble sphinx | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **bury** | participle | the marble sphinx *not said here* | | | sand | | half *property* | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in sand=Destination | 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 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/44/) - next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/46/) - ↑ back to [The Marsh King's Daughter, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/)