---
title: When they had all explained everything over and over to each other a… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had all explained everything over and over to each other as many times as was good for them, the witch said: "Well, but what about the whirlpools?" Who acts: witch. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 11, sentence 54

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When they had all explained everything over and over to each other as many times as was good for them, the witch said: "Well, but what about the whirlpools?"

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**Who acts:** witch · **What happens:** explain, be, say · **To what, where:** legs · **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 (witch), 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:pg23661:11:54
# text = When they had all explained everything over and over to each other as many times as was good for them, the witch said: "Well, but what about the whirlpools?"
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	explained	explain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	advcl	_	_
6	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	5	obj	_	_
7	over	over	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	over	over	ADV	RB	_	7	conj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
11	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
12	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
13	as	as	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
16	as	as	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	30	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	24	obj	_	_
31	about	about	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	whirlpools	whirlpool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | legs *= leg* |  |  | time | all, over *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for legs *= leg*; good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the witch |  |  |  |  | about the whirlpools | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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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