---
title: But day after day went on, and the big egg showed no signs of cracki… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But day after day went on, and the big egg showed no signs of cracking, and the duck grew more and more impatient, and began to wish to consult her husband, who never came. Who acts: big egg, duck, husband. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 8, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But day after day went on, and the big egg showed no signs of cracking, and the duck grew more and more impatient, and began to wish to consult her husband, who never came.

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**Who acts:** big egg, duck, husband · **What happens:** go on, show, grow, begin, wish, consult · **To what, where:** signs, husband, cracking

<!-- .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 (big egg, duck, husband), 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:pg3027:8:75
# text = But day after day went on, and the big egg showed no signs of cracking, and the duck grew more and more impatient, and began to wish to consult her husband, who never came.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	cracking	cracking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
22	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	21	advmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
25	impatient	impatient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	consult	consult	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
37	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past |  |  |  |  | day |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **show** | past | the big egg | no signs of cracking |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent sign=Recipient |
| 3 | **grow** | past | the duck |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | past | the duck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **wish** | to-infinitive | the duck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **consult** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the duck *not said here* | duck's husband |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent husband=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **come** | past | duck's husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **sign** |  |  | cracking |  |  |  |  | nom sign «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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