--- title: "But I can talk," said the Portuguese duck; "and I'll do something f… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "But I can talk," said the Portuguese duck; "and I'll do something for the little fellow; it's my duty;" and she stepped into the water-trough, and beat her wings upon the water so strongly that the bird was nearly drowned by a shower-bath; but the duck meant it kindly. " Who acts: Portuguese duck, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/19/) [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 Portuguese Duck](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/) / 19 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, sentence 19 "But I can talk," said the Portuguese duck; "and I'll do something for the little fellow; it's my duty;" and she stepped into the water-trough, and beat her wings upon the water so strongly that the bird was nearly drowned by a shower-bath; but the duck meant it kindly. " **Who acts:** Portuguese duck, children, board, duck, shower bath · **What happens:** talk, say, do, be, step, beat · **To what, where:** something, duty, water trough, wings, bird, board · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Portuguese Duck. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Portuguese duck, children, board, duck), 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:pg27200:145:19 # text = "But I can talk," said the Portuguese duck; "and I'll do something for the little fellow; it's my duty;" and she stepped into the water-trough, and beat her wings upon the water so strongly that the bird was nearly drowned by a shower-bath; but the duck meant it kindly. " 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 But but CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 3 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 4 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 8 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 acl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 Portuguese portuguese ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 duck duck NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 13 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 'll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 conj _ _ 18 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 17 obj _ _ 19 for for ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 fellow fellow NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 24 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 26 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 duty duty NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 stepped step VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 33 into into ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 35 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 36 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 trough trough NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 beat beat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 conj _ _ 41 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obj _ _ 43 upon upon ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 46 so so ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 strongly strongly ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 48 that that SCONJ IN _ 53 mark _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 nsubj:pass _ _ 51 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 53 aux:pass _ _ 52 nearly nearly ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ _ 53 drowned drown VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 40 advcl _ _ 54 by by ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 55 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 56 shower shower NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 57 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 56 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 58 bath bath NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 59 ; ; PUNCT : _ 63 punct _ _ 60 but but CCONJ CC _ 63 cc _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 duck duck NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 nsubj _ _ 63 meant mean VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 conj _ _ 64 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 63 obj _ _ 65 kindly kindly ADV RB _ 63 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ 67 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **talk** *in a quote* | can | the Portuguese duck *= duck* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Portuguese duck | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **do** *in a quote* | future | children *= child* | something | | | | for the little fellow | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | board | my duty | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **step** | past | duck | | | the water trough | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into trough=Destination | | 6 | **beat** | past | duck *not said here* | duck's wings | | | | upon the water; strongly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme | | 7 | **drown** | past · passive | a shower bath | the bird | | | | nearly *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | | 8 | **mean** | past | the duck | board | | | | kindly *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | 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 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/18/) - next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/20/) - ↑ back to [The Portuguese Duck](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/)