--- title: Once, when I was young, they tricked me to sitting on a brood of tur… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Once, when I was young, they tricked me to sitting on a brood of turkey's eggs myself, and when they were hatched the creatures were so stupid that nothing would make them learn to swim. Who acts: I, eggs, creatures, nothing. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8, wit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/8/80/) [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/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/8/) / 80 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 8, sentence 80 Once, when I was young, they tricked me to sitting on a brood of turkey's eggs myself, and when they were hatched the creatures were so stupid that nothing would make them learn to swim. **Who acts:** I, eggs, creatures, nothing · **What happens:** be, trick, sit, hatch, make, learn · **To what, where:** me, brood, eggs 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 (I, eggs, creatures, nothing), 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:pg3027:8:80 # text = Once, when I was young, they tricked me to sitting on a brood of turkey's eggs myself, and when they were hatched the creatures were so stupid that nothing would make them learn to swim. 1 Once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 6 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 6 advmod _ _ 4 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 6 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 tricked trick VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 10 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 9 obj _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 sitting sit VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 9 advcl _ _ 13 on on ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 brood brood NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 17 turkey turkey NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 18 's 's PART POS _ 17 case _ _ 19 eggs egg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ _ 20 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 19 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 23 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 26 advmod _ _ 24 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux:pass _ _ 26 hatched hatch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 12 advcl _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 creatures creature NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nsubj _ _ 29 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 30 so so ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 stupid stupid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 parataxis _ _ 32 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 33 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 35 nsubj _ _ 34 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 36 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 learn learn VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 xcomp _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 swim swim VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | I | | | | | once, young *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **trick** | past | eggs *= egg* | me | | | | | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient | | 3 | **sit** | gerund | eggs *= egg* *not said here* | | | a brood of turkey's eggs myself | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on brood=Location | | 4 | **hatch** | past · passive | | eggs *= egg* | | | | | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP V NP.product PP.patient»: subject=Product | | 5 | **is** | past | the creatures | | | | | stupid *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **make** | would | nothing | eggs *= egg* | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **learn** | infinitive | eggs *= egg* *not said here* | | | | | | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **swim** | to-infinitive | eggs *= egg* *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/8/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/8/81/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/8/)