---
title: His tail was long and thick and jointed and white, and had little le… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: His tail was long and thick and jointed and white, and had little legs to it, any number of them--far too many--so that it looked like a very large fat silkworm; and his claws were as long as lessons and as sharp as bayonets. Who acts: tail, claws. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, O
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 11, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His tail was long and thick and jointed and white, and had little legs to it, any number of them--far too many--so that it looked like a very large fat silkworm; and his claws were as long as lessons and as sharp as bayonets.

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**Who acts:** tail, claws · **What happens:** be, have, look · **To what, where:** little legs, tail

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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 (tail, claws), 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:pg23661:11:23
# text = His tail was long and thick and jointed and white, and had little legs to it, any number of them--far too many--so that it looked like a very large fat silkworm; and his claws were as long as lessons and as sharp as bayonets.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	jointed	jointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
20	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
25	too	too	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	31	mark	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	fixed	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
32	like	like	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
34	very	very	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	silkworm	silkworm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
42	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
43	as	as	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
45	as	as	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	lessons	lesson	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	as	as	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	conj	_	_
50	as	as	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	bayonets	bayonet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | beard's tail |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | beard's tail *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | beard's tail *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | beard's tail *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | beard's tail *not said here* | little legs | tail |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |
| 6 | **be** |  | beard's tail *not said here* |  |  |  |  | far *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **look** | past | tail |  |  |  |  | like a large fat silkworm | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 8 | **is** | past | beard's claws |  |  |  |  | as lessons; long *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **be** |  | beard's claws *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as bayonets | tree rules |

<!-- .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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