--- title: He held her fast, and the old oak under which they stood seemed to h… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: He held her fast, and the old oak under which they stood seemed to help him, for the loosened roots on the ground became entangled in the maiden's feet, and held them fast. Who acts: Helga, ashes, old oak. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Dau --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/14/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/) / 14 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4, sentence 14 He held her fast, and the old oak under which they stood seemed to help him, for the loosened roots on the ground became entangled in the maiden's feet, and held them fast. **Who acts:** Helga, ashes, old oak · **What happens:** hold, stand, seem, help, loosen, entangle · **To what, where:** garment, old oak, oak, loosened roots, ashes This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Helga, ashes, old oak), 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:pg27200:86:14 # text = He held her fast, and the old oak under which they stood seemed to help him, for the loosened roots on the ground became entangled in the maiden's feet, and held them fast. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 held hold 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 fast fast ADV RB Degree=Pos 2 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 oak oak NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 10 under under ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 13 obl _ _ 12 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 acl:relcl _ _ 14 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 xcomp _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 for for ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 loosened loosen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 amod _ _ 22 roots root NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 23 on on ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nmod _ _ 26 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 entangled entangle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 xcomp _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 31 's 's PART POS _ 30 case _ _ 32 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 36 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 fast fast ADV RB Degree=Pos 35 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hold** | past | Helga | garment | | | | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme | | 2 | **stand** | past | ashes *= ash* | | | the old oak | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under which=Location | | 3 | **seem** | past | the old oak | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 4 | **help** | to-infinitive | the old oak *not said here* | | oak | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary | | 5 | **loosen** | participle | | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **entangle** | past · passive | | the loosened roots on the ground | | | | in the maiden's feet | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination in foot=Theme | | 7 | **hold** | past | Helga *not said here* | ashes *= ash* | | | | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/15/) - ↑ back to [The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/)