---
title: "I wonder what those two Chinese are whispering about," whispered on… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "I wonder what those two Chinese are whispering about," whispered one duck to another; "they are always doing it, and it annoys me. Who acts: I, those, one duck, beaks. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I wonder what those two Chinese are whispering about," whispered one duck to another; "they are always doing it, and it annoys me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, those, one duck, beaks, much · **What happens:** wonder, whisper, do, annoy · **To what, where:** another, much, one duck · **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 (I, those, one duck, beaks), 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:pg27200:145:57
# text = "I wonder what those two Chinese are whispering about," whispered one duck to another; "they are always doing it, and it annoys me.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wonder	wonder	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
5	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	whispering	whisper	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
10	about	about	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
13	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	23	advmod	_	_
23	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	annoys	annoy	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present · progressive | those |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | one duck |  | another |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to another=Recipient |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | present · progressive | beaks *= beak* | much |  |  |  | always *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 5 | **annoy** *in a quote* | present | much | one duck *= duck* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus i=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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