---
title: Then the whole surface of the land turned itself over in its anxiety… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the whole surface of the land turned itself over in its anxiety to get rid of something so wicked, and in the morning the field was found to be plowed as thoroughly as any young man at Oxford. Who acts: whole surface. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 11, with its 
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 11, sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the whole surface of the land turned itself over in its anxiety to get rid of something so wicked, and in the morning the field was found to be plowed as thoroughly as any young man at Oxford.

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**Who acts:** whole surface · **What happens:** turn over, get, find, plow · **To what, where:** surface, anxiety, field

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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 (whole surface), 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:pg23661:11:66
# text = Then the whole surface of the land turned itself over in its anxiety to get rid of something so wicked, and in the morning the field was found to be plowed as thoroughly as any young man at Oxford.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obj	_	_
10	over	over	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	anxiety	anxiety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
16	rid	rid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	16	obl	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	plowed	plow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	_
33	as	as	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	thoroughly	thoroughly	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	38	det	_	_
37	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	Oxford	Oxford	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn over** | past | the whole surface of the land | surface |  | surface's anxiety | then |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent itself=Theme |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive | the whole surface of the land *not said here* |  |  |  |  | rid *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **find** | past · passive |  | the field |  |  | morning |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 4 | **plow** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  | as any young man at Oxford; thoroughly *property* | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP.agent V» |

<!-- .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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