--- title: He's charming," they said to each other, and began a conversation wi… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: He's charming," they said to each other, and began a conversation with him in whispers, using the most aristocratic Chinese dialect: "We are of the same race as yourself," they said. " Who acts: Chinese, feathers, We. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Port --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/48/) [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/) / 48 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, sentence 48 He's charming," they said to each other, and began a conversation with him in whispers, using the most aristocratic Chinese dialect: "We are of the same race as yourself," they said. " **Who acts:** Chinese, feathers, We · **What happens:** be, say, begin, use · **To what, where:** charming, each, conversation, whispers, aristocratic Chinese dialect · **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 (Chinese, feathers, We), 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:pg27200:145:48 # text = He's charming," they said to each other, and began a conversation with him in whispers, using the most aristocratic Chinese dialect: "We are of the same race as yourself," they said. " 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 2 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 charming charming NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 6 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 each each DET DT ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp 7 obl _ _ 10 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 conversation conversation NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 with with ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obl _ _ 18 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 whispers whisper NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 using use VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 13 advcl _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 23 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 24 advmod _ _ 24 aristocratic aristocratic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 25 Chinese Chinese ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 dialect dialect NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 : : PUNCT : _ 34 punct _ _ 28 " " PUNCT `` _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 30 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 34 cop _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 race race NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 ccomp _ _ 35 as as ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 yourself yourself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 34 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 " " PUNCT '' _ 34 punct _ _ 39 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 40 punct _ _ 42 " " PUNCT '' _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | Chinese | charming | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | feathers *= feather* | | each | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient | | 3 | **begin** *in a quote* | past | feathers *= feather* *not said here* | a conversation | | whispers | | with Chinese | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.subeventuality»: agent=Agent conversation=Eventuality with he=Subeventuality | | 4 | **use** *in a quote* | gerund | feathers *= feather* *not said here* | the aristocratic Chinese dialect | | | | | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dialect=Patient | | 5 | **is** | present | We | | | | | of the same race; as yourself | tree rules | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | feathers *= feather* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | 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 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/47/) - next →: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/49/) - ↑ back to [The Portuguese Duck](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/145/)