---
title: The birds sang as if they were also of this new congregation; and th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The birds sang as if they were also of this new congregation; and the fragrance of the wild flowers was as the ambrosial perfume of incense; while, above all, sounded the words of Scripture, "A light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace."
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The birds sang as if they were also of this new congregation; and the fragrance of the wild flowers was as the ambrosial perfume of incense; while, above all, sounded the words of Scripture, "A light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace."

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**Who acts:** birds, movements, fragrance, all, that · **What happens:** sing, be, sound, sit, guide, word · **To what, where:** words, darkness, feet, way, Scripture, death · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, movements, fragrance, all), 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:pg27200:86:29
# text = The birds sang as if they were also of this new congregation; and the fragrance of the wild flowers was as the ambrosial perfume of incense; while, above all, sounded the words of Scripture, "A light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	12	case	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
8	also	also	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
11	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	congregation	congregation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	fragrance	fragrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	wild	wild	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	ambrosial	ambrosial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	perfume	perfume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	above	above	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
34	sounded	sound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Scripture	Scripture	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nmod	_	_
45	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	nsubj	_	_
46	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	parataxis	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	conj	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	guide	guide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
58	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obj	_	_
60	into	into	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	_
63	of	of	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
64	peace	peace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 2 | **is** | past | movements *= movement* |  |  |  |  | as this new congregation | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | the fragrance of the wild flowers |  |  |  |  | as the ambrosial perfume; of incense | tree rules |
| 4 | **sound** | past | all | the words of Scripture |  |  |  | a light to movements *obl* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location word=Theme |
| 5 | **sit** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  | darkness |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in darkness=Location |
| 6 | **guide** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | all *not said here* | movements's feet |  | the way of peace |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent foot=Theme into way=Destination |
| 7 | **word** |  |  | Scripture |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **shadow** *in a quote* |  |  | death |  |  |  |  | nom shadow «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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