--- title: The griffin was busy sweeping the stairs of the Lone Tower, but the… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: The griffin was busy sweeping the stairs of the Lone Tower, but the dragon saw, and he gave a cry of rage--and it was like twenty engines all letting off steam at the top of their voices inside Cannon Street Station. Who acts: griffin, dragon, cry, rage. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nes --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/11/18/) [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 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/11/) / 18 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 11, sentence 18 The griffin was busy sweeping the stairs of the Lone Tower, but the dragon saw, and he gave a cry of rage--and it was like twenty engines all letting off steam at the top of their voices inside Cannon Street Station. **Who acts:** griffin, dragon, cry, rage · **What happens:** be, sweep, see, give, let off, cry · **To what, where:** stairs, cry, steam, top This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (griffin, dragon, cry, rage), 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:pg23661:11:18 # text = The griffin was busy sweeping the stairs of the Lone Tower, but the dragon saw, and he gave a cry of rage--and it was like twenty engines all letting off steam at the top of their voices inside Cannon Street Station. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 griffin griffin NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 busy busy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 sweeping sweep VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 stairs stair NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obj _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 Lone Lone PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 compound _ _ 11 Tower Tower PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 13 but but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 conj _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 cry cry NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 rage rage NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 -- -- PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 28 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 29 like like ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 twenty twenty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 31 nummod _ _ 31 engines engine NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 parataxis _ _ 32 all all ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 letting let VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 34 off off ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ _ 35 steam steam NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 36 at at ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 voices voice NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 nmod _ _ 42 inside inside ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 Cannon Cannon PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 44 Street Street PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 Station Station PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the griffin | | | | | busy *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **sweep** | gerund | the griffin *not said here* | the stairs of the Lone Tower | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stair=Trajectory | | 3 | **see** | past | the dragon | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **give** | past | griffin | a cry of rage | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cry=Theme | | 5 | **is** | past | cry | | | | | like twenty engines | tree rules | | 6 | **let off** | gerund | the griffin *not said here* | steam | | the top of engines's voices inside Cannon Street Station | | all *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent steam=Theme at top=Asset | | 7 | **cry** | | rage | | | | | | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/11/17/) - next →: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/11/19/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/11/)