---
title: But the ducks did not understand what he said, and quacked amongst t… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But the ducks did not understand what he said, and quacked amongst themselves, "We are all of the same opinion; namely, that he is stupid." Who acts: ducks, horse, We. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ole-luk-oie, the Dream-god, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Ole-luk-oie, the Dream-god, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the ducks did not understand what he said, and quacked amongst themselves, "We are all of the same opinion; namely, that he is stupid."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ducks, horse, We · **What happens:** not understand, say, quack, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ole-luk-oie, the Dream-god. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ducks, horse, We), 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:pg27200:134:74
# text = But the ducks did not understand what he said, and quacked amongst themselves, "We are all of the same opinion; namely, that he is stupid."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	quacked	quack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
13	amongst	amongst	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
19	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	nsubj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
25	namely	namely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | the ducks |  |  |  |  | namely *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | horse |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **quack** | past |  |  |  |  |  | amongst ducks *= duck* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | We |  |  |  |  | of the same opinion | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | horse |  |  |  |  | stupid *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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