---
title: And though the duckling did not understand the meaning of the words,… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And though the duckling did not understand the meaning of the words, he felt he was being blamed, and became more uncomfortable still when the old Spanish duck who ruled the fowlyard struck in: Who acts: duckling, rest, old Spanish duck. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening,
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 18

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And though the duckling did not understand the meaning of the words, he felt he was being blamed, and became more uncomfortable still when the old Spanish duck who ruled the fowlyard struck in:

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**Who acts:** duckling, rest, old Spanish duck · **What happens:** not understand, feel, blame, become, rule, strike in · **To what, where:** meaning, rest, fowlyard, words

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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 (duckling, rest, old Spanish duck), 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:pg3027:9:18
# text = And though the duckling did not understand the meaning of the words, he felt he was being blamed, and became more uncomfortable still when the old Spanish duck who ruled the fowlyard struck in:
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
2	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	duckling	duckling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
18	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	blamed	blame	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
23	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	24	advmod	_	_
24	uncomfortable	uncomfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	_
25	still	still	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
31	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
32	ruled	rule	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	fowlyard	fowlyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	xcomp	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | the duckling | the meaning of the words |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer meaning=Stimulus |
| 2 | **feel** | past | rest |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **blame** | past · passive |  | rest |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **become** | past | rest *not said here* |  |  |  |  | uncomfortable *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **rule** | past | the old Spanish duck | the fowlyard |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **strike in** | participle | the old Spanish duck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **mean** |  |  | the words |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «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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