---
title: I am very curious to know what the ducks were so startled about; not… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I am very curious to know what the ducks were so startled about; not about us, certainly, although I did say 'peep' to you pretty loudly. Who acts: I. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, sentence 21

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I am very curious to know what the ducks were so startled about; not about us, certainly, although I did say 'peep' to you pretty loudly.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, know, startle, say · **To what, where:** ducks, peep, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I), 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:pg27200:124:21
# text = I am very curious to know what the ducks were so startled about; not about us, certainly, although I did say 'peep' to you pretty loudly.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	_
13	about	about	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	about	about	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
25	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	peep	peep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
30	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | certainly, curious *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **startle** | past · passive |  | the ducks |  |  |  | about *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer what=Result |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | I | peep | you |  |  | loudly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent peep=Topic to you=Recipient |

<!-- .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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