---
title: The blacksmith had never dared to go beyond the seventh step, and no… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The blacksmith had never dared to go beyond the seventh step, and no more have I--so I know no more than he did what was at the bottom of those stairs. Who acts: more, I, blacksmith. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Dragon Tamers], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The blacksmith had never dared to go beyond the seventh step, and no more have I--so I know no more than he did what was at the bottom of those stairs.

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**Who acts:** more, I, blacksmith · **What happens:** not dare, not go, have, know, do, be · **To what, where:** blacksmith, more, bottom

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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 (more, I, blacksmith), 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:pg23661:12:12
# text = The blacksmith had never dared to go beyond the seventh step, and no more have I--so I know no more than he did what was at the bottom of those stairs.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	blacksmith	blacksmith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	dared	dare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	seventh	seventh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
15	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	16	nsubj	_	_
16	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	no	no	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	21	obj	_	_
24	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	31	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	ccomp	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
34	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **dare** | past · perfect · passive |  | the blacksmith |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | beyond the seventh step | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme beyond step=Location |
| 3 | **have** | present | no more |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **know** | present | I | more |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer more=Stimulus |
| 5 | **do** | past | blacksmith |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past |  |  |  | the bottom |  | of that stairs | 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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