---
title: Then John rummaged among the heap of old iron and found there some h… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Then John rummaged among the heap of old iron and found there some heavy chains and a great collar that had been made in the days when men sang over their work and put their hearts into it, so that the things they made were strong enough to bear the weight of a thousand years, let alone a dragon. Wh
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/108/)

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# The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 108

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then John rummaged among the heap of old iron and found there some heavy chains and a great collar that had been made in the days when men sang over their work and put their hearts into it, so that the things they made were strong enough to bear the weight of a thousand years, let alone a dragon.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** John, men, things, chains · **What happens:** rummage, find, make, sing, put, be · **To what, where:** heap, heavy chains, great collar, work, hearts, heart

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Dragon Tamers\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (John, men, things, chains), 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:pg23661:12:108
# text = Then John rummaged among the heap of old iron and found there some heavy chains and a great collar that had been made in the days when men sang over their work and put their hearts into it, so that the things they made were strong enough to bear the weight of a thousand years, let alone a dragon.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rummaged	rummage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	among	among	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
13	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
14	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	chains	chain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	collar	collar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obl	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
27	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	29	mark	_	_
28	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
30	over	over	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
40	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
46	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
47	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
48	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	advcl	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	56	nummod	_	_
56	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
58	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	conj	_	_
59	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rummage** | past | John |  |  | the heap of old iron | then |  | vn rummage-35.5-1 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent among heap=Location |
| 2 | **find** | past | John *not said here* | some heavy chains and a great collar |  | there |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chain=Topic |
| 3 | **make** | past · perfect · passive |  | a great collar |  |  | day |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP» |
| 4 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | men |  |  | chains's work |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over work=Location |
| 5 | **put** | infinitive | men *not said here* | chains's hearts |  | heart |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent heart=Goal |
| 6 | **make** | past | things *= thing* | the things *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset thing=Product |
| 7 | **is** | past | the things |  |  |  |  | enough, strong *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **bear** | to-infinitive | the things *not said here* | the weight of thousand years |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent weight=Patient |
| 9 | **let** | infinitive | the things *not said here* | a dragon |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dragon=Theme |
| 10 | **work** |  | chains *= chain* |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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