--- title: The flame flickered to and fro, and seemed ready to expire; but stil… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: The flame flickered to and fro, and seemed ready to expire; but still the lamp burned on, and the girl's black sparkling eyes, half veiled behind their long silken lashes, followed it with a gaze of earnest intensity. Who acts: flame, lamp, earnest intensity. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Chris --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/92/8/) [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/) / [First Evening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/92/) / 8 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, First Evening, sentence 8 The flame flickered to and fro, and seemed ready to expire; but still the lamp burned on, and the girl's black sparkling eyes, half veiled behind their long silken lashes, followed it with a gaze of earnest intensity. **Who acts:** flame, lamp, earnest intensity · **What happens:** flicker, fro, seem, expire, burn on, veil · **To what, where:** black sparkling eyes, long silken lashes, lamp This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, First Evening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (flame, lamp, earnest intensity), 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:pg27200:92:8 # text = The flame flickered to and fro, and seemed ready to expire; but still the lamp burned on, and the girl's black sparkling eyes, half veiled behind their long silken lashes, followed it with a gaze of earnest intensity. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 flame flame NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 flickered flicker VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to ADP IN _ 3 obl _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 fro fro VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 10 ready ready ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 xcomp _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 expire expire VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 but but CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 15 still still ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 lamp lamp NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 18 burned burn VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 parataxis _ _ 19 on on ADP RP _ 18 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 24 's 's PART POS _ 23 case _ _ 25 black black ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 26 sparkling sparkling NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 compound _ _ 27 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 half half ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 30 advmod _ _ 30 veiled veil VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 18 conj _ _ 31 behind behind ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 32 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 33 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 34 silken silken ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 lashes lash NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 followed follow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 with with ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 gaze gaze NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 earnest earn ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 44 amod _ _ 44 intensity intensity NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **flicker** | past | the flame | | | | | | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **fro** | infinitive | the flame *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **seem** | past | | | | | | ready *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **expire** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **burn on** | participle | the lamp | | | | still | | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **veil** | participle · passive | | the girl's black sparkling eyes | | eyes's long silken lashes | | half *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination | | 7 | **follow** | past | | lamp | | | | with a gaze of earnest intensity | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 8 | **gaze** | | earnest intensity | | | | | | nom gaze «act intransitive»: of=agent | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/92/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/92/9/) - ↑ back to [First Evening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/92/)