--- title: In this snug retreat sat a duck on her nest, watching for her young… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: In this snug retreat sat a duck on her nest, watching for her young brood to hatch; she was beginning to get tired of her task, for the little ones were a long time coming out of their shells, and she seldom had any visitors. Who acts: duck, little ones, long time. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/7/) [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/) / 7 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling, sentence 7 In this snug retreat sat a duck on her nest, watching for her young brood to hatch; she was beginning to get tired of her task, for the little ones were a long time coming out of their shells, and she seldom had any visitors. **Who acts:** duck, little ones, long time · **What happens:** sit, watch, hatch, begin, get, be · **To what, where:** duck, snug retreat, shells, visitors 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 (duck, little ones, long time), 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:pg27200:201:7 # text = In this snug retreat sat a duck on her nest, watching for her young brood to hatch; she was beginning to get tired of her task, for the little ones were a long time coming out of their shells, and she seldom had any visitors. 1 In in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 det _ _ 3 snug snug ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 retreat retreat NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 5 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 duck duck NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 8 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 nest nest NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 watching watch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 13 for for ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 14 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 15 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 brood brood NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 hatch hatch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 beginning begin VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ _ 25 tired tired ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 xcomp _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 30 for for ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 ones one NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nsubj _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 36 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 parataxis _ _ 38 coming come VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 37 acl _ _ 39 out out ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 shells shell NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 45 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 46 seldom seldom ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 48 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 49 det _ _ 49 visitors visitor NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | | a duck | | this snug retreat | | on duck's nest | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent duck=Theme in retreat=Location | | 2 | **watch** | gerund | | | | | | for duck's young brood | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for brood=Theme | | 3 | **hatch** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.patient V PP.product»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **begin** | past · progressive | duck | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 5 | **get** | to-infinitive | duck *not said here* | | | | | tired *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is** | past | the little ones | | | | for a long time | | tree rules | | 7 | **come out** | gerund | a long time *not said here* | leaves's shells | | | | | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient shell=Result | | 8 | **have** | past | duck | any visitors | | | | seldom *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent visitor=Patient | | 9 | **task** | | duck | | | | | | nom task «act transitive»: poss=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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/6/) - next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/8/) - ↑ back to [The Ugly Duckling](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/201/)