---
title: He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a differe… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a different one, and he could not feel sure which answer was right. Who acts: Nigel, answer. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 10, sentence 129

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He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a different one, and he could not feel sure which answer was right.

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**Who acts:** Nigel, answer · **What happens:** get, be, not feel · **To what, where:** answer, different one

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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 (Nigel, answer), 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:pg23661:10:129
# text = He got an answer every time, it is true, but it was always a different one, and he could not feel sure which answer was right.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	18	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
25	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
26	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	27	det	_	_
27	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | Nigel | a answer |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer answer=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | answer |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | answer | a different one |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **feel** | could | Nigel |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | past | which answer |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

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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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