---
title: He had never expected to be a King any more than you have, so it was… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He had never expected to be a King any more than you have, so it was all quite new to him--so new that he had never even thought of it. Who acts: King, you, two. 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 91

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He had never expected to be a King any more than you have, so it was all quite new to him--so new that he had never even thought of it.

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**Who acts:** King, you, two · **What happens:** not expect, be, have, not think · **To what, where:** King

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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 (King, you, two), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg23661:1:91
# text = He had never expected to be a King any more than you have, so it was all quite new to him--so new that he had never even thought of it.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	King	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
9	any	any	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
11	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	all	all	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	even	even	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **expect** | past · perfect · passive |  | King |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | King *not said here* | a King |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | two |  | King |  |  | all, new *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | two *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect | King |  |  |  |  | of two | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 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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