---
title: It was sometimes as if Helga acted from sheer wickedness; for often… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It was sometimes as if Helga acted from sheer wickedness; for often when her mother stood on the threshold of the door, or stepped into the yard, she would seat herself on the brink of the well, wave her arms and legs in the air, and suddenly fall right in. Who acts: power, mother, Viking. A sentenc
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 3, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was sometimes as if Helga acted from sheer wickedness; for often when her mother stood on the threshold of the door, or stepped into the yard, she would seat herself on the brink of the well, wave her arms and legs in the air, and suddenly fall right in.

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**Who acts:** power, mother, Viking · **What happens:** be, stand, step, seat, wave, fall · **To what, where:** sheer wickedness, Viking, threshold, arms

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (power, mother, Viking), 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:pg27200:85:27
# text = It was sometimes as if Helga acted from sheer wickedness; for often when her mother stood on the threshold of the door, or stepped into the yard, she would seat herself on the brink of the well, wave her arms and legs in the air, and suddenly fall right in.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	7	advmod	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	Helga	Helga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	acted	act	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	sheer	sheer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	wickedness	wickedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	often	often	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	stepped	step	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	_
27	into	into	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
34	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obl	_	_
35	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	brink	brink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
42	wave	wave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
43	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obj	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	conj	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	conj	_	_
54	right	right	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
55	in	in	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | power |  |  | sheer wickedness |  | act, sometimes *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stand** | past | Viking's mother | Viking |  | the threshold of the door |  | on the brink of the well; often *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on threshold=Location |
| 3 | **step** | participle | Viking's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the yard | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into yard=Destination |
| 4 | **seat** | would | Viking |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **wave** | infinitive | Viking's mother *not said here* | Viking's arms and legs |  |  |  | in the air | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent arm=Patient in air=Theme |
| 6 | **fall** | infinitive | Viking's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | suddenly *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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