---
title: But ducks are not clever at all, and are not quick at counting, so t… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But ducks are not clever at all, and are not quick at counting, so this duck did not worry herself about the matter, but just took care that the big egg should be as warm as the rest. Who acts: ducks, duck, big egg. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8, with its depe
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 8, sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But ducks are not clever at all, and are not quick at counting, so this duck did not worry herself about the matter, but just took care that the big egg should be as warm as the rest.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ducks, duck, big egg · **What happens:** not be, count, not worry, take, be · **To what, where:** all, duck, care

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ducks, duck, big egg), 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:pg3027:8:66
# text = But ducks are not clever at all, and are not quick at counting, so this duck did not worry herself about the matter, but just took care that the big egg should be as warm as the rest.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
13	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	counting	count	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
19	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	worry	worry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
22	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	about	about	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	just	just	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
30	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
35	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	cop	_	_
37	as	as	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	advcl	_	_
39	as	as	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | ducks |  |  | all |  | clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **count** | gerund | ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **worry** | past · do-support | this duck | duck |  |  |  | about the matter | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus herself=Experiencer |
| 5 | **take** | past |  | care |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent care=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | should | the big egg |  |  |  |  | as the rest; warm *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:** «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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