---
title: 'I will follow them,' said the duckling to himself; 'ugly though I a… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'I will follow them,' said the duckling to himself; 'ugly though I am, I would rather be killed by them than suffer all I have suffered from cold and hunger, and from the ducks and fowls who should have treated me kindly.' Who acts: I, syringas. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 108

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'I will follow them,' said the duckling to himself; 'ugly though I am, I would rather be killed by them than suffer all I have suffered from cold and hunger, and from the ducks and fowls who should have treated me kindly.'

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**Who acts:** I, syringas · **What happens:** follow, say, kill, suffer, fowl, treat · **To what, where:** syringas, duckling, bird, I, all, cold · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, syringas), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3027:9:108
# text = 'I will follow them,' said the duckling to himself; 'ugly though I am, I would rather be killed by them than suffer all I have suffered from cold and hunger, and from the ducks and fowls who should have treated me kindly.'
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	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	duckling	duckling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
16	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
27	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
28	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
29	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	obj	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	suffered	suffer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	acl:relcl	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	fowls	fowl	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
44	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
45	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	aux	_	_
47	treated	treat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
48	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | future | I | syringas *= syringa* |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the duckling | bird |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent duckling=Topic to himself=Recipient |
| 3 | **kill** | would · passive | syringas *= syringa* | I |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 4 | **suffer** | infinitive | syringas *= syringa* *not said here* | all |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer all=Stimulus |
| 5 | **suffer** | present · perfect | I |  |  | cold and hunger |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **fowl** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn berry-13.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **treat** | should · perfect · passive |  | me |  |  |  | from the ducks; kindly *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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