--- title: It was late on a winter evening; the mountains were covered with sno… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: It was late on a winter evening; the mountains were covered with snow, but the moon shone brightly, and moonlight in Italy is like a dull winter's day in the north; indeed it is better, for clear air seems to raise us above the earth, while in the north a cold, gray, leaden sky appears to press us d --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/6/) [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 Metal Pig](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/) / 6 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Metal Pig, sentence 6 It was late on a winter evening; the mountains were covered with snow, but the moon shone brightly, and moonlight in Italy is like a dull winter's day in the north; indeed it is better, for clear air seems to raise us above the earth, while in the north a cold, gray, leaden sky appears to press us down to earth, even as the cold damp earth shall one day press on us in the grave. **Who acts:** place, moon, moonlight, clear air, leaden sky · **What happens:** be, cover, shine, seem, raise, appear · **To what, where:** mountains, north, us, earth This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Metal Pig. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (place, moon, moonlight, clear air), 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:pg27200:89:6 # text = It was late on a winter evening; the mountains were covered with snow, but the moon shone brightly, and moonlight in Italy is like a dull winter's day in the north; indeed it is better, for clear air seems to raise us above the earth, while in the north a cold, gray, leaden sky appears to press us down to earth, even as the cold damp earth shall one day press on us in the grave. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 late late ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 4 on on ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 winter winter NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 compound _ _ 7 evening evening NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ; ; PUNCT : _ 12 punct _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 mountains mountain NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj:pass _ _ 11 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 covered cover VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 13 with with ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 moon moon NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 shone shine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 20 brightly brightly ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 moonlight moonlight NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ _ 24 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 25 Italy Italy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nmod _ _ 26 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 27 like like ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 dull dull ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 winter winter NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 31 's 's PART POS _ 30 case _ _ 32 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl:unmarked _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 north north NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 indeed indeed ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 expl _ _ 39 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 40 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 for for SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 43 clear clear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 45 seems seem VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 advcl _ _ 46 to to PART TO _ 47 mark _ _ 47 raise raise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 xcomp _ _ 48 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 47 obj _ _ 49 above above ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 64 punct _ _ 53 while while SCONJ IN _ 64 mark _ _ 54 in in ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 55 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 north north NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 obl _ _ 57 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 58 cold cold NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 , , PUNCT , _ 60 punct _ _ 60 gray gray NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 62 leaden leaden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 63 amod _ _ 63 sky sky NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 nsubj _ _ 64 appears appear VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 advcl _ _ 65 to to PART TO _ 66 mark _ _ 66 press press VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 64 xcomp _ _ 67 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 66 obj _ _ 68 down down ADP RP _ 66 compound:prt _ _ 69 to to ADP IN _ 70 case _ _ 70 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 71 , , PUNCT , _ 81 punct _ _ 72 even even ADV RB _ 81 advmod _ _ 73 as as ADP IN _ 81 case _ _ 74 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 77 det _ _ 75 cold cold ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 77 amod _ _ 76 damp damp ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 77 amod _ _ 77 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 81 nsubj _ _ 78 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 81 aux _ _ 79 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 80 nummod _ _ 80 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 81 compound _ _ 81 press press NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 parataxis _ _ 82 on on ADP IN _ 83 case _ _ 83 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 81 nmod _ _ 84 in in ADP IN _ 86 case _ _ 85 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 86 det _ _ 86 grave grave NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 87 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | place | | | | evening | late *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **cover** | past · passive | | the mountains | | | | with snow | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with snow=Theme | | 3 | **shine** | past | the moon | | | | | brightly *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | present | moonlight in Italy | | | the north | like a dull winter's day; winter | | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | present | place *not said here* | | | | | good, indeed *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **seem** | present | clear air | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 7 | **raise** | to-infinitive | clear air *not said here* | us | | the earth | | in the grave | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent we=Theme above earth=Destination in grave=Initial\_Location | | 8 | **appear** | present | leaden sky | | | the north and a cold and gray | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 9 | **press down** | to-infinitive | leaden sky *not said here* | us | | | | to earth | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V NP ADJP-Result»: agent=Agent we=Result | 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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/7/) - ↑ back to [The Metal Pig](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/)