--- title: The parents sat in the nest on the slender minaret, and rested, yet… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: The parents sat in the nest on the slender minaret, and rested, yet still were busily employed in cleaning and smoothing their feathers, and in sharpening their beaks against their red stockings; then they would stretch out their necks, salute each other, and gravely raise their heads with the high- --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/56/) [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/) / 56 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 2, sentence 56 The parents sat in the nest on the slender minaret, and rested, yet still were busily employed in cleaning and smoothing their feathers, and in sharpening their beaks against their red stockings; then they would stretch out their necks, salute each other, and gravely raise their heads with the high-polished forehead, and soft, smooth feathers, while their brown eyes shone with intelligence. **Who acts:** parents, gravely, brown eyes · **What happens:** sit, rest, employ, smooth, sharpen, stretch out · **To what, where:** nest, cleaning, feathers, beaks, necks, each 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 (parents, gravely, brown eyes), 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:pg27200:84:56 # text = The parents sat in the nest on the slender minaret, and rested, yet still were busily employed in cleaning and smoothing their feathers, and in sharpening their beaks against their red stockings; then they would stretch out their necks, salute each other, and gravely raise their heads with the high-polished forehead, and soft, smooth feathers, while their brown eyes shone with intelligence. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 parents parent NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 in in ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 nest nest NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 7 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 slender slender ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 minaret minaret NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 rested rest VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 yet yet CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 16 still still ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 17 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux:pass _ _ 18 busily busily ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 employed employ VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 parataxis _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 cleaning cleaning NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 smoothing smooth VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 24 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 28 in in SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 29 sharpening sharpen VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 13 advcl _ _ 30 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 beaks beak NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 obj _ _ 32 against against ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 33 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 34 red red ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 stockings stocking NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT : _ 40 punct _ _ 37 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 40 advmod _ _ 38 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 stretch stretch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 advcl _ _ 41 out out ADP RP _ 40 compound:prt _ _ 42 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 necks neck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 45 salute salute VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 conj _ _ 46 each each DET DT ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp 45 obj _ _ 47 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 51 cc _ _ 50 gravely gravely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 nsubj _ _ 51 raise raise VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 52 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 53 nmod:poss _ _ 53 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 51 obj _ _ 54 with with ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 55 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 56 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 58 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 57 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 56 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 58 polished polish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 59 amod _ _ 59 forehead forehead NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 65 punct _ _ 61 and and CCONJ CC _ 65 cc _ _ 62 soft soft ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 65 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 63 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 64 smooth smooth ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 65 amod _ _ 65 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 51 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 66 , , PUNCT , _ 71 punct _ _ 67 while while SCONJ IN _ 71 mark _ _ 68 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 70 nmod:poss _ _ 69 brown brown ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 70 amod _ _ 70 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 71 nsubj _ _ 71 shone shine VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 51 conj _ _ 72 with with ADP IN _ 73 case _ _ 73 intelligence intelligence NOUN NN Number=Sing 71 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 74 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | the parents | | | the nest | | on the slender minaret | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in nest=Location | | 2 | **rest** | past | the parents *not said here* | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **employ** | past · passive | | | | cleaning | still | busily *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP» | | 4 | **smooth** | gerund | | parents's feathers | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent feather=Patient | | 5 | **sharpen** | gerund | the parents *not said here* | parents's beaks | | | | against parents's red stockings | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent beak=Patient | | 6 | **stretch out** | would | parents *= parent* | parents's necks | | | then | | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent neck=Patient | | 7 | **salute** | infinitive | parents *= parent* *not said here* | each | | | | | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent each=Topic | | 8 | **raise** | present | gravely | parents's heads | | | | with the polished forehead; soft smooth feathers *obl* | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent head=Patient with forehead=Instrument | | 9 | **polish** | participle | | | | | | | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **shine** | participle | parents's brown eyes | | | | | with intelligence | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with intelligence=Theme | 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 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/55/) - next →: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/57/) - ↑ back to [The Marsh King's Daughter, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/84/)