---
title: There grew magnificent oaks and beech-trees; and if the bark was spl… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: There grew magnificent oaks and beech-trees; and if the bark was split of any of them, long blades of grass grew out of the clefts; there were also large smooth lakes in the wood, on which the swans were swimming about and flapping their wings. Who acts: long blades, large smooth lakes, swans. A sen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bell, sentence 58

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There grew magnificent oaks and beech-trees; and if the bark was split of any of them, long blades of grass grew out of the clefts; there were also large smooth lakes in the wood, on which the swans were swimming about and flapping their wings.

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**Who acts:** long blades, large smooth lakes, swans · **What happens:** grow, split, grow out, be, swim, flap · **To what, where:** magnificent oaks, bark, clefts, wings

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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 (long blades, large smooth lakes, swans), 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:pg27200:9:58
# text = There grew magnificent oaks and beech-trees; and if the bark was split of any of them, long blades of grass grew out of the clefts; there were also large smooth lakes in the wood, on which the swans were swimming about and flapping their wings.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	magnificent	magnificent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	oaks	oak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	beech	beech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	split	split	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	blades	blade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
25	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	clefts	cleft	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
31	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	32	expl	_	_
32	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	advcl	_	_
33	also	also	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	lakes	lake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
41	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	obl	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	swans	swan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
47	about	about	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	flapping	flap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	conj	_	_
50	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past |  | magnificent oaks and beech trees |  | there |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location oak=Theme |
| 2 | **split** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | the bark |  |  |  | of any | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient of any=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **grow out** | past | long blades of grass | the clefts |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cleft=Theme |
| 4 | **be** | past | large smooth lakes in the wood |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **swim** | past · progressive | the swans |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on which=Trajectory |
| 6 | **flap** | gerund | the swans *not said here* | swans's wings |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient |

<!-- .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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