---
title: And when my father's father was young he heard from the very old man… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: And when my father's father was young he heard from the very old man, his great-great-grandfather, that in that tower an enchanted Princess, fairer than the day, waits to be delivered. Who acts: father, young. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 10, sentence 61

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And when my father's father was young he heard from the very old man, his great-great-grandfather, that in that tower an enchanted Princess, fairer than the day, waits to be delivered.

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**Who acts:** father, young · **What happens:** be, hear, enchant, wait, deliver

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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 (father, young), 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:pg23661:10:61
# text = And when my father's father was young he heard from the very old man, his great-great-grandfather, that in that tower an enchanted Princess, fairer than the day, waits to be delivered.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	nsubj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	32	nsubj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
27	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
28	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	enchanted	enchant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	amod	_	_
30	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	fairer	fair	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	parataxis	_	_
33	than	than	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	waits	wait	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | my father's father |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past | young |  |  |  |  | from the old man and skipper's great great grandfather | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from man=Source |
| 3 | **enchant** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **wait** | present | young *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **deliver** | to-infinitive · passive | young *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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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