---
title: By this time they had reached the centre of the yard, where a very o… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: By this time they had reached the centre of the yard, where a very old duck was sitting, who was treated with great respect by all the fowls present. Who acts: children, old duck, fowls present. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 4

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By this time they had reached the centre of the yard, where a very old duck was sitting, who was treated with great respect by all the fowls present.

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**Who acts:** children, old duck, fowls present · **What happens:** reach, sit, treat · **To what, where:** centre

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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 (children, old duck, fowls present), 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:pg3027:9:4
# text = By this time they had reached the centre of the yard, where a very old duck was sitting, who was treated with great respect by all the fowls present.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	treated	treat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	fowls	fowls	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past · perfect | children *= child* | the centre of the yard |  |  | time |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent centre=Theme |
| 2 | **sit** | past · progressive | a old duck |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **treat** | past · passive | all fowls present |  |  |  |  | with great respect | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient with respect=Theme |

<!-- .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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