---
title: It cannot even be said of the ducks, and we warn you, little bird, n… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It cannot even be said of the ducks, and we warn you, little bird, not to trust that one yonder, with the short tail feathers, for she is cunning; that curiously marked one, with the crooked stripes on her wings, is a mischief-maker, and never lets any one have the last word, though she is always in
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It cannot even be said of the ducks, and we warn you, little bird, not to trust that one yonder, with the short tail feathers, for she is cunning; that curiously marked one, with the crooked stripes on her wings, is a mischief-maker, and never lets any one have the last word, though she is always in the wrong.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we, duck, that, one · **What happens:** not say, warn, not trust, cunn, mark, be · **To what, where:** yard, little bird, you, one, mischief maker, any · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (we, duck, that, one), 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:pg27200:145:53
# text = It cannot even be said of the ducks, and we warn you, little bird, not to trust that one yonder, with the short tail feathers, for she is cunning; that curiously marked one, with the crooked stripes on her wings, is a mischief-maker, and never lets any one have the last word, though she is always in the wrong.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	warn	warn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	trust	trust	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	obj	_	_
24	yonder	yonder	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	cunning	cunn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	39	nsubj	_	_
38	curiously	curiously	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	marked	mark	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
40	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	crooked	crooked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	stripes	stripe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
50	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
52	mischief	mischief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	maker	maker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
57	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
58	lets	let	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
59	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	58	obj	_	_
60	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	61	nsubj	_	_
61	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	59	acl:relcl	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
66	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	72	mark	_	_
67	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj	_	_
68	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	72	cop	_	_
69	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	72	advmod	_	_
70	in	in	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | can · passive |  | yard |  |  |  | of the ducks | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **warn** *speech: warn* | present | we | little bird | you |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 3 | **not** **trust** | to-infinitive |  | one |  |  |  | with the short tail feathers; yonder *property* | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent one=Recipient with feather=Theme |
| 4 | **cunn** | present · progressive | duck |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **mark** | past | that | one |  |  |  | with the crooked stripes on duck's wings; curiously *property* | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent one=Destination with stripe=Theme |
| 6 | **is a** | present |  | a mischief maker |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **let** | present |  | any |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=Theme |
| 8 | **have** | present | one | the last word |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |
| 9 | **is** | present | duck |  |  |  |  | always, wrong *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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