--- title: He happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: He happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left all the bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to clear up--but then the news was rather remarkable news. Who acts: secretary, news, bricks. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/69/) [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 Book of Dragons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/) / 69 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 1, sentence 69 He happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left all the bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to clear up--but then the news was rather remarkable news. **Who acts:** secretary, news, bricks · **What happens:** happen, build, come, leave, kick, clear up · **To what, where:** Palace, bricks, remarkable news 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 (secretary, news, bricks), 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:pg23661:1:69 # text = He happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left all the bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to clear up--but then the news was rather remarkable news. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 4 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 aux _ _ 5 building build VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 advcl _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 Palace Palace PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 8 when when SCONJ WRB _ 11 mark _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 news news NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 16 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 18 det:predet _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 bricks brick NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obj _ _ 19 kicking kick VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 18 acl _ _ 20 about about ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 floor floor NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ _ 23 for for ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 Nurse nurse NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 clear clear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 advcl _ _ 27 up up ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 28 -- -- PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 30 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 36 advmod _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 news news NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 33 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 34 rather rather ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 35 remarkable remarkable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 news news NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **happen** | past | secretary | | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **build** | to-infinitive · progressive | secretary *not said here* | a Palace | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset palace=Product | | 3 | **come** | past | the news | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **leave** | past | news | all bricks | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brick=Theme | | 5 | **kick** | gerund | all bricks *not said here* | | | | | about the floor; for Nurse | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **clear up** | to-infinitive | all bricks *not said here* | | | | | | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source | | 7 | **is a** | past | the news | remarkable news | | | then | | tree rules | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/70/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/)