---
title: He was a strange man; a very good King he was, but he had his faults… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He was a strange man; a very good King he was, but he had his faults--he was fond of books. Who acts: death. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 1, sentence 104

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He was a strange man; a very good King he was, but he had his faults--he was fond of books.

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**Who acts:** death · **What happens:** be, have, fault · **To what, where:** strange man, faults

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (death), 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:pg23661:1:104
# text = He was a strange man; a very good King he was, but he had his faults--he was fond of books.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	King	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	faults	fault	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | death | a strange man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | death | death's faults |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fault=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | death |  |  |  |  | of books; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **fault** |  | death |  |  |  |  |  | nom fault «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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 Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Project Gutenberg book 23661 (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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