---
title: The 1949 song "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten" ("On the canals of Amste… — Amsterdam · tree and pragmatics
description: The 1949 song "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten" ("On the canals of Amsterdam") was performed and recorded by many artists, including John Kraaijkamp Sr.; the best-known version is probably that by Wim Sonneveld (1962). Who acts: many artists, known version. A sentence of Wikipedia's «Amsterdam» with its
---

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# Amsterdam, sentence 483

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From Wikipedia, [«Amsterdam»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too.

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The 1949 song "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten" ("On the canals of Amsterdam") was performed and recorded by many artists, including John Kraaijkamp Sr.; the best-known version is probably that by Wim Sonneveld (1962).

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**Who acts:** many artists, known version · **What happens:** perform, record, know, be · **To what, where:** song Aan grachten, that

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This is a sentence of the English Wikipedia article «Amsterdam». The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many artists, known version), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. The article's note marks are left out of the parse.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = wikipedia:Amsterdam:483
# text = The 1949 song "Aan de Amsterdamse grachten" ("On the canals of Amsterdam") was performed and recorded by many artists, including John Kraaijkamp Sr.; the best-known version is probably that by Wim Sonneveld (1962).
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	1949	1949	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Aan	Aan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
6	de	de	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	flat	_	_
7	Amsterdamse	Amsterdamse	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	flat	_	_
8	grachten	grachten	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
10	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	On	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	canals	canal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	appos	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Amsterdam	Amsterdam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	14	punct	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	performed	perform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	recorded	record	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	artists	artist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	including	including	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obl:agent	_	_
29	Kraaijkamp	Kraaijkamp	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	flat	_	_
30	Sr.	Sr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
33	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	35	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	amod	_	_
36	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	obl	_	_
40	by	by	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Wim	Wim	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
42	Sonneveld	Sonneveld	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	flat	_	_
43	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	1962	1962	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	41	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perform** | past · passive | many artists | song Aan grachten |  |  |  | John *obl:agent* | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **record** | participle | many artists *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **know** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** | present | the known version | that |  |  |  | by Wim; probably *property* | tree rules |

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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:** the English Wikipedia, «Amsterdam», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. **Tree:** Mova's own parse, CC BY-SA 4.0 as the text is. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the article read in order, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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