---
title: Troops of the birds were flying in circles over the castle and the h… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Troops of the birds were flying in circles over the castle and the highest trees; but just before her, as she stood on the threshold and close to the well where Helga had so often sat and alarmed her with her wildness, now stood two swans, gazing at her with intelligent eyes. Who acts: Troops, wife,
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 5, sentence 91

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Troops of the birds were flying in circles over the castle and the highest trees; but just before her, as she stood on the threshold and close to the well where Helga had so often sat and alarmed her with her wildness, now stood two swans, gazing at her with intelligent eyes.

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**Who acts:** Troops, wife, Helga · **What happens:** fly, stand, have, sit, alarm, gaze · **To what, where:** circles, threshold, wife, two swans

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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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Troops, wife, Helga), 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:pg27200:87:91
# text = Troops of the birds were flying in circles over the castle and the highest trees; but just before her, as she stood on the threshold and close to the well where Helga had so often sat and alarmed her with her wildness, now stood two swans, gazing at her with intelligent eyes.
1	Troops	troops	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	6	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	circles	circle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	amod	_	_
15	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	just	just	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	before	before	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	35	advmod	_	_
34	Helga	Helga	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
35	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	often	often	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	alarmed	alarm	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
41	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	wildness	wildness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	47	advmod	_	_
47	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
48	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	49	nummod	_	_
49	swans	swan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
51	gazing	gaze	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	advcl	_	_
52	at	at	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obl	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	intelligent	intelligent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past · progressive | Troops of the birds |  |  | circles over the castle and the highest trees | before wife |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in circle=Location |
| 2 | **stand** | past | wife |  |  | the threshold |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on threshold=Location |
| 3 | **have** | past | Helga |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **sit** | past | Helga *not said here* |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **alarm** | past | Helga *not said here* | wife |  |  |  | with wife's wildness | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |
| 6 | **stand** | past | Helga *not said here* | two swans |  |  | now |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer swan=Stimulus |
| 7 | **gaze** | gerund | Helga *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at wife; with intelligent eyes | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at she=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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