--- title: It is said that rain-drops can make a hollow in the hardest stone, a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: It is said that rain-drops can make a hollow in the hardest stone, and the waves of the sea can smooth and round the rough edges of the rocks; so did the dew of mercy fall upon Helga, softening what was hard, and smoothing what was rough in her character. Who acts: rain drops, waves, dew. A sentence --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/37/) [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/) / 37 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4, sentence 37 It is said that rain-drops can make a hollow in the hardest stone, and the waves of the sea can smooth and round the rough edges of the rocks; so did the dew of mercy fall upon Helga, softening what was hard, and smoothing what was rough in her character. **Who acts:** rain drops, waves, dew · **What happens:** say, make, smooth, round, do, fall · **To what, where:** power, rough edges, Helga, character, sea · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (rain drops, waves, dew), 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:pg27200:86:37 # text = It is said that rain-drops can make a hollow in the hardest stone, and the waves of the sea can smooth and round the rough edges of the rocks; so did the dew of mercy fall upon Helga, softening what was hard, and smoothing what was rough in her character. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux:pass _ _ 3 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 5 rain rain NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 6 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 drops drop NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj _ _ 8 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 advcl _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 hollow hollow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 xcomp _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 hardest hard ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 15 amod _ _ 15 stone stone NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 waves wave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 nsubj _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod _ _ 23 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 smooth smooth VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 parataxis _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 round round VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 conj _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 rough rough ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 edges edge NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obj _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 rocks rock NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 34 so so ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 dew dew NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 mercy mercy NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 40 fall fall VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 parataxis _ _ 41 upon upon ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 Helga Helga PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 44 softening soften VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 advcl _ _ 45 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 47 nsubj _ _ 46 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 47 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 50 smoothing smooth VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 44 conj _ _ 51 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 53 nsubj _ _ 52 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 53 cop _ _ 53 rough rough ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 50 ccomp _ _ 54 in in ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 55 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 56 nmod:poss _ _ 56 character character NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 57 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive | | power | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | | 2 | **make** | can | rain drops | | | | | hollow *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | | 3 | **smooth** | can | the waves of the sea | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **round** | infinitive | the waves of the sea *not said here* | the rough edges of the rocks | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent edge=Patient | | 5 | **do** | past | | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **fall** | present | the dew of mercy | | | Helga | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon helga=Location | | 7 | **soften** | gerund | the dew of mercy *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 8 | **is** | past | | | | | | hard *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **smooth** | gerund | the dew of mercy *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 10 | **is** | past | | | | round's character | | rough *property* | tree rules | | 11 | **wave** | | | the sea | | | | | nom wave «event transitive»: of=patient | 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 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/36/) - next →: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/38/) - ↑ back to [The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/86/)