---
title: Then the robbers knew that this must be the work of an evil spirit o… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the robbers knew that this must be the work of an evil spirit or some secret sorcery, and, in a terrible fright, they ran hastily from the spot. Who acts: robbers, this. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4, with its depende
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 4, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the robbers knew that this must be the work of an evil spirit or some secret sorcery, and, in a terrible fright, they ran hastily from the spot.

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**Who acts:** robbers, this · **What happens:** know, be, run · **To what, where:** work, terrible fright · **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 (robbers, this), 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:pg27200:86:51
# text = Then the robbers knew that this must be the work of an evil spirit or some secret sorcery, and, in a terrible fright, they ran hastily from the spot.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	_
7	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
17	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	sorcery	sorcery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	fright	fright	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
29	hastily	hastily	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the robbers |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | must | this | the work |  |  |  | of a evil spirit or some secret sorcery | tree rules |
| 3 | **run** | past | robbers *= robber* |  |  | a terrible fright |  | from the spot; hastily *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in fright=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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