--- title: The little ducks were swimming about in the pond, looking just like… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The little ducks were swimming about in the pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, and their mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying to teach them how to stand on their heads in the water. Who acts: little ducks, mother. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/142/) [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 Happy Prince, and Other Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/) / [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/) / 142 # The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 3, sentence 142 The little ducks were swimming about in the pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, and their mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying to teach them how to stand on their heads in the water. **Who acts:** little ducks, mother · **What happens:** swim, look, be, try, teach, stand · **To what, where:** ducks, heads This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 3. 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, mother), 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:pg902:3:142 # text = The little ducks were swimming about in the pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, and their mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying to teach them how to stand on their heads in the water. 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 5 nsubj _ _ 4 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 swimming swim VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 about about ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 pond pond NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 11 looking look VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 conj _ _ 12 just just ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 13 like like ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 lot lot NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 yellow yellow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 18 canaries canary NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 21 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 24 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 27 nsubj _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 26 pure pure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 28 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 real real ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 30 red red ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 33 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 trying try VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 conj _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 teach teach VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 iobj _ _ 38 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 40 advmod _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 stand stand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 41 on on ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obl _ _ 44 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **swim** | past · progressive | the little ducks | | | | | about the pond | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about pond=Trajectory | | 2 | **look** | gerund | the little ducks *not said here* | | | | | like a lot of yellow canaries | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 3 | **is** | past | ducks's mother | | | | | with real red legs; white *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **try** | past · progressive | ducks's mother | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 5 | **teach** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | ducks's mother *not said here* | | ducks *= duck* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **stand** | to-infinitive | ducks's mother *not said here* | | | ducks's heads | | in the water | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on head=Location | 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 Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Project Gutenberg book 902 (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 141](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/141/) - next →: [Opening, part 4, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/4/1/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/)