--- title: The little ducks tried hard to make their small fat bodies copy the… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The little ducks tried hard to make their small fat bodies copy the movements of their mother, and the old lady was quite pleased with them; but the rest of the ducks looked on discontentedly, and said to each other: Who acts: little ducks, small fat bodies, old lady, rest. A sentence of «The Orange --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/8/) [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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/) / 8 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 8 The little ducks tried hard to make their small fat bodies copy the movements of their mother, and the old lady was quite pleased with them; but the rest of the ducks looked on discontentedly, and said to each other: **Who acts:** little ducks, small fat bodies, old lady, rest · **What happens:** try, make, copy, be, look, say · **To what, where:** movements, each, mother · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (little ducks, small fat bodies, old lady, rest), 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:pg3027:9:8 # text = The little ducks tried hard to make their small fat bodies copy the movements of their mother, and the old lady was quite pleased with them; but the rest of the ducks looked on discontentedly, and said to each other: 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 ducks duck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 xcomp _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 xcomp _ _ 8 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 9 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 10 fat fat NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 compound _ _ 11 bodies body NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 12 copy copy VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 movements movement NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obj _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 lady lady NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 23 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 cop _ _ 24 quite quite ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 25 pleased pleased ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 conj _ _ 26 with with ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 rest rest NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 ducks duck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ _ 35 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 36 on on ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 discontentedly discontentedly ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 each each DET DT ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp 40 obl _ _ 43 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 44 : : PUNCT : _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **try** | past | the little ducks | | | | | hard *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | the little ducks *not said here* | | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | | 3 | **copy** | present | parents's small fat bodies | the movements of parents's mother | | | | | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent movement=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | the old lady | | | | | with parents *= parent*; pleased *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **look** | past | the rest of the ducks | | | | | | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on discontentedly=Theme | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the little ducks *not said here* | | each | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient | | 7 | **move** | | | parents's mother | | | | | nom movement «act transitive»: of=patient | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/9/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/)