---
title: The witty little duck said of the Portuguese, that the old lady was… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The witty little duck said of the Portuguese, that the old lady was getting quite a "doting ducky," All the other ducks laughed at this. " Who acts: witty little duck, old lady, other ducks. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, with its depen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Portuguese Duck, sentence 70

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The witty little duck said of the Portuguese, that the old lady was getting quite a "doting ducky," All the other ducks laughed at this. "

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**Who acts:** witty little duck, old lady, other ducks · **What happens:** say, get, dote, laugh · **To what, where:** this · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (witty little duck, old lady, other ducks), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:145:70
# text = The witty little duck said of the Portuguese, that the old lady was getting quite a "doting ducky," All the other ducks laughed at this. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	witty	witty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Portuguese	Portuguese	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	ccomp	_	_
16	quite	quite	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	17	det:predet	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	xcomp	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	doting	dote	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	acl	_	_
20	ducky	ducky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	_
23	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	26	det:predet	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
27	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the witty little duck |  |  |  |  | of the Portuguese | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **get** | past · progressive | the old lady |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **dote** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | ducky *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **laugh** | past | all other ducks |  |  | this |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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