--- title: "I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill me, because I am so ugly, and dare to approach them; but it does not matter: better be killed by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens, pushed about by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with hunger in the win --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/160/) [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 Ugly Duckling](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/) / 160 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling, sentence 160 "I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill me, because I am so ugly, and dare to approach them; but it does not matter: better be killed by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens, pushed about by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with hunger in the winter." **Who acts:** thicket, birds, lark, it, maiden · **What happens:** fly, exclaim, kill, be, dare, approach · **To what, where:** lark, birds, better, ducks, poultry · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Ugly Duckling. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thicket, birds, lark, it), 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:pg27200:201:160 # text = "I will fly to those royal birds," he exclaimed, "and they will kill me, because I am so ugly, and dare to approach them; but it does not matter: better be killed by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens, pushed about by the maiden who feeds the poultry, or starved with hunger in the winter." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 fly fly VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 6 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 8 det _ _ 7 royal royal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 birds bird NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 " " PUNCT `` _ 12 punct _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 exclaimed exclaim VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 14 " " PUNCT '' _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 16 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 19 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 because because SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 23 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 cop _ _ 24 so so ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 25 ugly ugly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 dare dare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 approach approach VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 xcomp _ _ 31 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 33 but but CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 35 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 36 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 37 advmod _ _ 37 matter matter VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 38 : : PUNCT : _ 41 punct _ _ 39 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 41 nsubj:pass _ _ 40 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 41 aux:pass _ _ 41 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 conj _ _ 42 by by ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obl _ _ 44 than than SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 45 pecked peck VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 advcl _ _ 46 by by ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 ducks duck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 50 beaten beat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 48 acl _ _ 51 by by ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 hens hen NOUN NNS Number=Plur 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 55 pushed push VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 41 conj _ _ 56 about about ADV RB _ 55 advmod _ _ 57 by by ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 58 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 59 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 obl _ _ 60 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 61 nsubj _ _ 61 feeds feed VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 59 acl:relcl _ _ 62 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 63 poultry poultry NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 64 , , PUNCT , _ 66 punct _ _ 65 or or CCONJ CC _ 66 cc _ _ 66 starved starve VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 conj _ _ 67 with with ADP IN _ 68 case _ _ 68 hunger hunger NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 obl _ _ 69 in in ADP IN _ 71 case _ _ 70 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 71 det _ _ 71 winter winter NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 72 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 73 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fly** *in a quote* | future | thicket | | | | | to that royal birds | tree rules | | 2 | **exclaim** *speech: express* | past | thicket | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **kill** *in a quote* | future | birds *= bird* | the lark *= lark* | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the lark *= lark* | | | | | ugly *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **dare** *in a quote* | infinitive | | | | | | | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **approach** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | birds *= bird* | | | | | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 7 | **not** **matter** *in a quote* | present · do-support | it | | | | | | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus | | 8 | **kill** *in a quote* | infinitive · passive | birds *= bird* | better | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | | 9 | **peck** *in a quote* | participle | birds *= bird* *not said here* | | | | | by the ducks | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **beat** *in a quote* | participle | | the ducks *not said here* | | | | by the hens | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by hen=Location | | 11 | **push about** *in a quote* | participle | birds *= bird* *not said here* | | | | | by the maiden; about *property* | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent by maiden=Trajectory | | 12 | **feed** *in a quote* | present | the maiden | | the poultry | | | | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poultry=Recipient | | 13 | **starve** *in a quote* | participle | birds *= bird* *not said here* | | | | winter | with hunger | tree rules | 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 159](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/159/) - next →: [sentence 161](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/161/) - ↑ back to [The Ugly Duckling](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/)