--- title: All the ducks lying quietly on the water or standing on their heads… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: All the ducks lying quietly on the water or standing on their heads in it--for they could do that--at once swarm to the sides; the traces of their feet were seen in the wet earth, and their cackling was heard far and wide. Who acts: ducks. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/2/) [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/) / [The Neighbouring Families](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/) / 2 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, sentence 2 All the ducks lying quietly on the water or standing on their heads in it--for they could do that--at once swarm to the sides; the traces of their feet were seen in the wet earth, and their cackling was heard far and wide. **Who acts:** ducks · **What happens:** lie, stand, do, swarm, see, hear · **To what, where:** water, heads, that, traces, wet earth, cackling This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Neighbouring Families. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ducks), 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:pg27200:124:2 # text = All the ducks lying quietly on the water or standing on their heads in it--for they could do that--at once swarm to the sides; the traces of their feet were seen in the wet earth, and their cackling was heard far and wide. 1 All all DET PDT PronType=Tot 3 det:predet _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 ducks duck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 lying lie VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 quietly quietly ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 6 on on ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 9 or or CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 11 on on ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ _ 14 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 -- -- PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 for for SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 20 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 21 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 20 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 -- -- PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 at at ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 25 advmod _ _ 25 swarm swarm VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 conj _ _ 26 to to ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 sides side NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ; ; PUNCT : _ 36 punct _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 traces trace NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ _ 35 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 advcl _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 wet wet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 43 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 cackling cackling NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nsubj _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux:pass _ _ 46 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 36 conj _ _ 47 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 46 advmod _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 49 wide wide ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lie** | gerund | all ducks | | | the water | | quietly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on water=Location | | 2 | **stand** | gerund | all ducks *not said here* | | | ducks's heads | | in water | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on head=Location | | 3 | **do** | could | ducks *= duck* | that | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality | | 4 | **swarm** | infinitive | ducks *= duck* *not said here* | | | | | to the sides; once *property* | vn swarm-47.5.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **see** | past · passive | | the traces of traces's feet | | the wet earth | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus | | 6 | **hear** | past · passive | | traces's cackling | | | | far *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus | 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 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/3/) - ↑ back to [The Neighbouring Families](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/)