---
title: The Princess could see nothing for the steam, and she stood crying b… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The Princess could see nothing for the steam, and she stood crying bitterly, but still holding on tight with her right hand to the other end of the cord that Nigel had told her to hold; while with her left she held the ship's chronometer, and looked at it through her tears as he had bidden her look,
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 11, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Princess could see nothing for the steam, and she stood crying bitterly, but still holding on tight with her right hand to the other end of the cord that Nigel had told her to hold; while with her left she held the ship's chronometer, and looked at it through her tears as he had bidden her look, so as to know when to pull the rope.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Princess, Nigel, cord · **What happens:** see, stand, cry, hold on, tell, hold · **To what, where:** nothing, cord, Princess, chronometer, look, rope · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Princess, Nigel, cord), 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:pg23661:11:28
# text = The Princess could see nothing for the steam, and she stood crying bitterly, but still holding on tight with her right hand to the other end of the cord that Nigel had told her to hold; while with her left she held the ship's chronometer, and looked at it through her tears as he had bidden her look, so as to know when to pull the rope.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	steam	steam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	xcomp	_	_
14	bitterly	bitterly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	still	still	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	tight	tight	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	Nigel	Nigel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	acl:relcl	_	_
36	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	iobj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	left	left	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
44	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	's	's	PART	POS	_	47	case	_	_
49	chronometer	chronometer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	conj	_	_
53	at	at	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obl	_	_
55	through	through	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	_
58	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
59	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
60	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	bidden	bid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
62	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	63	nmod:poss	_	_
63	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	68	punct	_	_
65	so	so	ADV	RB	_	68	advmod	_	_
66	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	68	mark	_	_
67	to	to	PART	TO	_	68	mark	_	_
68	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
69	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	71	advmod	_	_
70	to	to	PART	TO	_	71	mark	_	_
71	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	68	xcomp	_	_
72	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	73	det	_	_
73	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | the Princess | nothing |  |  |  | for the steam | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **stand** | past | Princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  | bitterly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hold on** | gerund | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  | to the other end of the cord; still | with Princess's right hand; tight *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | Nigel | the cord *not said here* | Princess |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **hold** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the cord *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **hold** | past | Princess | the ship's chronometer |  |  |  | with Princess's left | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chronometer=Theme |
| 8 | **look** | past | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  | at end | through Princess's tears | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at it=Theme |
| 9 | **bid** | past · perfect | Nigel | Princess's look |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **know** | to-infinitive | the Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 11 | **pull** | to-infinitive | the Princess *not said here* | the rope |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rope=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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