---
title: They were telling one another of all the places where they had been… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They were telling one another of all the places where they had been waddling about all the morning, and what good food they had found; and one said in a pitiful tone: ‘Something lies heavy on my stomach; as I was eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay under the queen’s window.’ Who acts: ducks
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were telling one another of all the places where they had been waddling about all the morning, and what good food they had found; and one said in a pitiful tone: ‘Something lies heavy on my stomach; as I was eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay under the queen’s window.’

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**Who acts:** ducks, one, Something, I, ring · **What happens:** tell, waddle, find, say, lie, eat · **To what, where:** one, good food, pitiful tone, stomach, haste, ring · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ducks, one, Something, I), 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:pg2591:34:17
# text = They were telling one another of all the places where they had been waddling about all the morning, and what good food they had found; and one said in a pitiful tone: ‘Something lies heavy on my stomach; as I was eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay under the queen’s window.’
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
5	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	fixed	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	9	det:predet	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
10	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	14	advmod	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	aux	_	_
14	waddling	waddle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	acl	_	_
15	about	about	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	18	det:predet	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
21	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	obj	_	_
22	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	tone	tone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
36	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	38	nsubj	_	_
38	lies	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
39	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	xcomp	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	stomach	stomach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
46	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	haste	haste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
50	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	acl:relcl	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
55	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	acl:relcl	_	_
56	under	under	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	’s	's	PART	POS	_	58	case	_	_
60	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · progressive | ducks *= duck* | one |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent one=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **waddle** | past · perfect · progressive | ducks *= duck* |  |  |  | morning |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **find** | past · perfect · passive |  | good food |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme what=Attribute |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | one |  |  | a pitiful tone |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in tone=Manner |
| 5 | **lie** | present | Something |  |  | my stomach |  | heavy *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on stomach=Location |
| 6 | **eat** | past · progressive | I |  |  | haste |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **swallow** | past | I | a ring |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ring=Patient |
| 8 | **lie** | past | a ring |  |  | the queen's window |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under window=Location |

<!-- .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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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