---
title: Two feathers which the fluttering ducks had lost floated up and down… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Two feathers which the fluttering ducks had lost floated up and down; suddenly they took a rush as if the wind were coming, but as it did not come they had to lie still, and the water once more became quiet and smooth. Who acts: ducks, wind, water. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anders
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, sentence 6

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Two feathers which the fluttering ducks had lost floated up and down; suddenly they took a rush as if the wind were coming, but as it did not come they had to lie still, and the water once more became quiet and smooth.

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**Who acts:** ducks, wind, water · **What happens:** float up, take, come, not come, have, lie · **To what, where:** Two feathers, rush

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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 (ducks, wind, water), 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:pg27200:124:6
# text = Two feathers which the fluttering ducks had lost floated up and down; suddenly they took a rush as if the wind were coming, but as it did not come they had to lie still, and the water once more became quiet and smooth.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	fluttering	fluttering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	floated	float	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
14	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	rush	rush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	still	still	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
41	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	43	advmod	_	_
42	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	43	advmod	_	_
43	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
44	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float up** | past · perfect · passive |  | Two feathers |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP ADJ.result»: subject=Theme which=Result |
| 2 | **take** | past | ducks *= duck* | a rush |  |  |  | suddenly *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rush=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past · progressive | the wind |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **come** | past · do-support | wind |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | ducks *= duck* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **lie** | to-infinitive | ducks *= duck* *not said here* |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **become** | past | the water |  |  |  |  | once, quiet *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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