---
title: Then tourists used to come in breaks from quite a long way off, and… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Then tourists used to come in breaks from quite a long way off, and pay twopence each to go down the steps and peep through the iron grating at the rusty dragon in the dungeon--and it was threepence extra for each party if the blacksmith let off colored fire to see it by, which, as the fire was extr
---

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# The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 170

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then tourists used to come in breaks from quite a long way off, and pay twopence each to go down the steps and peep through the iron grating at the rusty dragon in the dungeon--and it was threepence extra for each party if the blacksmith let off colored fire to see it by, which, as the fire was extremely short, was twopence-halfpenny clear profit every time.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** tourists, iron, twopence, blacksmith, colored fire, fire · **What happens:** use, come, pay, go down, peep, grate · **To what, where:** halfpenny clear profit, breaks, twopence, steps, threepence, colored fire

<!-- .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 (tourists, iron, twopence, 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:pg23661:12:170
# text = Then tourists used to come in breaks from quite a long way off, and pay twopence each to go down the steps and peep through the iron grating at the rusty dragon in the dungeon--and it was threepence extra for each party if the blacksmith let off colored fire to see it by, which, as the fire was extremely short, was twopence-halfpenny clear profit every time.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	tourists	tourist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	breaks	break	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	quite	quite	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	12	det:predet	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
13	off	off	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	pay	pay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
17	twopence	twopence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
21	down	down	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	peep	peep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
26	through	through	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	grating	grate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	acl	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	rusty	rusty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	dungeon	dungeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
41	threepence	threepence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
42	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	45	det	_	_
45	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
46	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	blacksmith	blacksmith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
49	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	acl	_	_
50	off	off	ADP	RP	_	49	compound:prt	_	_
51	colored	color	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	amod	_	_
52	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	by	by	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
58	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
60	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	65	mark	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	nsubj	_	_
63	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
64	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
65	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
67	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	70	cop	_	_
68	twopence	twopence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	68	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	halfpenny	halfpenny	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	compound	_	_
71	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	72	amod	_	_
72	profit	profit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
73	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	74	det	_	_
74	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | tourists | halfpenny clear profit |  |  | then; time |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent profit=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **come** | to-infinitive | tourists *not said here* |  |  | breaks |  | from quite long way | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from way=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **pay** | present |  | twopence |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent twopence=Recipient each=Asset |
| 4 | **go down** | to-infinitive |  | the steps |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient step=Extent |
| 5 | **peep** | present |  |  |  |  |  | through the iron | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through iron=Theme |
| 6 | **grate** | gerund | the iron *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the rusty dragon in the dungeon | vn appeal-31.4-1 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus at dragon=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is a** | past | twopence | threepence |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **let off** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | the blacksmith | colored fire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **color** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn coloring-24 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **see** | to-infinitive | colored fire *not said here* | twopence |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **is** | past | the fire |  |  |  |  | extremely, short *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **is a** | past |  | twopence halfpenny |  |  |  |  | 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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