--- title: And as the coach went through the town he had to bite his tongue to… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: And as the coach went through the town he had to bite his tongue to be quite sure it was real, because if his tongue was real it showed he wasn't dreaming. Who acts: coach, town, tongue, it. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/92/) [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/) / 92 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 1, sentence 92 And as the coach went through the town he had to bite his tongue to be quite sure it was real, because if his tongue was real it showed he wasn't dreaming. **Who acts:** coach, town, tongue, it · **What happens:** go, have, bite, be, show, not dream · **To what, where:** town, tongue · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (coach, town, tongue, it), 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:pg23661:1:92 # text = And as the coach went through the town he had to bite his tongue to be quite sure it was real, because if his tongue was real it showed he wasn't dreaming. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 2 as as SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 coach coach NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 through through ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 9 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 bite bite VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ _ 13 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 tongue tongue NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 16 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 18 cop _ _ 17 quite quite ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 advcl _ _ 19 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 cop _ _ 21 real real ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 23 because because SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 24 if if SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 tongue tongue NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 27 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 cop _ _ 28 real real ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 advcl _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 showed show VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 31 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 33 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 dreaming dream VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 30 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 35 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go** | past | the coach | | | the town | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through town=Initial\_Location | | 2 | **have** | past | coach | the town *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **bite** | to-infinitive | the town *not said here* | coach's tongue | | | | | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Patient | | 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | the town *not said here* | | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | tongue | | | | | real *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | past | coach's tongue | | | | | real *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **show** | past | it | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **not** **dream** | past · progressive | coach | | | | | | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent | 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 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/91/) - next →: [sentence 93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/93/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/1/)