---
title: One of them wrote verses about the bell, and said that it was like t… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: One of them wrote verses about the bell, and said that it was like the voice of a mother speaking to an intelligent and beloved child; no tune, he said, was sweeter than the sound of the bell. Who acts: One, bell, mother, tune. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bell, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One of them wrote verses about the bell, and said that it was like the voice of a mother speaking to an intelligent and beloved child; no tune, he said, was sweeter than the sound of the bell.

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**Who acts:** One, bell, mother, tune · **What happens:** write, say, be, speak · **To what, where:** verses · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (One, bell, mother, tune), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:9:12
# text = One of them wrote verses about the bell, and said that it was like the voice of a mother speaking to an intelligent and beloved child; no tune, he said, was sweeter than the sound of the bell.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	verses	verse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bell	bell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	like	like	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
24	intelligent	intelligent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	beloved	beloved	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
27	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
30	tune	tune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	sweeter	sweet	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	33	ccomp	_	_
37	than	than	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	bell	bell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past | One of persons | verses |  |  |  | about the bell | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent verse=Recipient about bell=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | One of persons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | bell |  |  |  |  | like the voice; of a mother | tree rules |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | a mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to a intelligent child | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to child=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | no tune |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | than the sound of the bell; sweet *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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