---
title: There was a peculiar fragrance about them all, for they were incense… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a peculiar fragrance about them all, for they were incense vessels, which had been swung before the altars in the temples by the Christian priests. Who acts: peculiar fragrance, vessels, Christian priests. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 3, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was a peculiar fragrance about them all, for they were incense vessels, which had been swung before the altars in the temples by the Christian priests.

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**Who acts:** peculiar fragrance, vessels, Christian priests · **What happens:** be, swing · **To what, where:** incense vessels, altars

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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 (peculiar fragrance, vessels, Christian priests), 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:pg27200:85:64
# text = There was a peculiar fragrance about them all, for they were incense vessels, which had been swung before the altars in the temples by the Christian priests.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	peculiar	peculiar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	fragrance	fragrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	_
8	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	vessels	vessel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	swung	swing	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
20	before	before	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	altars	altar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	temples	temple	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Christian	Christian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	priests	priest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a peculiar fragrance about vessels |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | vessels *= vessel* |  |  |  |  | for incense vessels | tree rules |
| 3 | **swing** | past · perfect · passive | the Christian priests | incense vessels |  | the altars in the temples |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme before altar=Location |

<!-- .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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