---
title: Now, the sum was this: "If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes dow… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, the sum was this: "If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes down once in every twenty-four hours, and they do it five minutes earlier every twenty-four hours, and if the dragon sleeps every day, and he does it three minutes later every day, in how many days and at what time in the day will the 
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 10, sentence 119

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now, the sum was this: "If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes down once in every twenty-four hours, and they do it five minutes earlier every twenty-four hours, and if the dragon sleeps every day, and he does it three minutes later every day, in how many days and at what time in the day will the tide go down three minutes before the dragon falls asleep?"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sum, whirlpools, tide, sums, dragon, boy · **What happens:** be, stop, go down, do, sleep, fall · **To what, where:** this, tide

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sum, whirlpools, tide, sums), 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:pg23661:10:119
# text = Now, the sum was this: "If the whirlpools stop and the tide goes down once in every twenty-four hours, and they do it five minutes earlier every twenty-four hours, and if the dragon sleeps every day, and he does it three minutes later every day, in how many days and at what time in the day will the tide go down three minutes before the dragon falls asleep?"
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sum	sum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	whirlpools	whirlpool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	stop	stop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
17	down	down	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	advmod	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
20	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
21	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	earlier	early	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	28	advmod	_	_
33	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	37	det	_	_
34	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	37	nummod	_	_
37	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	71	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	71	cc	_	_
40	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
43	sleeps	sleep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	71	advcl	_	_
44	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	45	det	_	_
45	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	52	nummod	_	_
52	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl:unmarked	_	_
53	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	49	advmod	_	_
54	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	55	det	_	_
55	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
57	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	59	advmod	_	_
59	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	71	nsubj	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
62	at	at	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	64	det	_	_
64	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	_
65	in	in	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	_
68	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	71	aux	_	_
69	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
70	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	nsubj	_	_
71	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
72	down	down	ADV	RB	_	71	advmod	_	_
73	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	74	nummod	_	_
74	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	71	obl:unmarked	_	_
75	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	78	mark	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	78	nsubj	_	_
78	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	71	advcl	_	_
79	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	78	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	71	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the sum | this |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stop** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the whirlpools |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go down** *in a quote* | present | the tide |  |  |  | hour | down, once *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | present | sums *= sum* | tide |  |  | hour | early *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 5 | **sleep** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the dragon |  |  |  | day |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **do** *in a quote* | present | boy | tide |  |  | day | late *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 7 | **go down** *in a quote* | future | many days and what time in the day |  |  |  | minute | down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 8 | **fall** *in a quote* | present | the dragon |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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