---
title: She sharpened her glittering knife; and when one of the great, savag… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: She sharpened her glittering knife; and when one of the great, savage dogs, who were running about the Viking's castle in great numbers, sprang towards her, she thrust the knife into his side, merely, as she said, to prove its sharpness. Who acts: Helga, great savage dogs, one. A sentence of «Fairy 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 3, sentence 73

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She sharpened her glittering knife; and when one of the great, savage dogs, who were running about the Viking's castle in great numbers, sprang towards her, she thrust the knife into his side, merely, as she said, to prove its sharpness.

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**Who acts:** Helga, great savage dogs, one · **What happens:** sharpen, glitter, run, spring, thrust, say · **To what, where:** stone, knife, side, sharpness · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Helga, great savage dogs, one), 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:pg27200:85:73
# text = She sharpened her glittering knife; and when one of the great, savage dogs, who were running about the Viking's castle in great numbers, sprang towards her, she thrust the knife into his side, merely, as she said, to prove its sharpness.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sharpened	sharpen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	glittering	glitter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
5	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
12	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	savage	savage	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	acl	_	_
20	about	about	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Viking	Viking	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	's	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
30	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	thrust	thrust	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	ccomp	_	_
49	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	sharpness	sharpness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sharpen** | past | Helga | stone |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 2 | **glitter** | gerund | Helga *not said here* | knife |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent knife=Theme |
| 3 | **run** | past · progressive | the great savage dogs |  |  |  |  | about the Viking's castle in great numbers | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about castle=Trajectory |
| 4 | **spring** | past | one of the great savage dogs |  |  |  |  | towards Helga | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards she=Destination |
| 5 | **thrust** | past | Helga | the knife |  | priest's side |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Helga |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **prove** | to-infinitive |  | side's sharpness |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sharpness=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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