--- title: So they loosened the chains, and the dragon said: "Excuse me a momen… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: So they loosened the chains, and the dragon said: "Excuse me a moment, there are one or two little things I should like to fetch," and he moved off to those mysterious steps and went down them, out of sight into the darkness. Who acts: people, dragon, one little things. A sentence of «The Book of Dr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/282/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Book of Dragons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/) / [The Dragon Tamers\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/) / 282 # The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 282 So they loosened the chains, and the dragon said: "Excuse me a moment, there are one or two little things I should like to fetch," and he moved off to those mysterious steps and went down them, out of sight into the darkness. **Who acts:** people, dragon, one little things · **What happens:** loosen, say, excuse, be, like, fetch · **To what, where:** chains, dragon, one little things, people, sight · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (people, dragon, one little things), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg23661:12:282 # text = So they loosened the chains, and the dragon said: "Excuse me a moment, there are one or two little things I should like to fetch," and he moved off to those mysterious steps and went down them, out of sight into the darkness. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 loosened loosen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 chains chain NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 10 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 : : PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 12 " " PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 Excuse excuse VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 14 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 19 expl _ _ 19 are be VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 parataxis _ _ 20 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 24 nummod _ _ 21 or or CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 20 conj _ _ 23 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nsubj _ _ 25 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 like like VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 acl:relcl _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 fetch fetch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 " " PUNCT '' _ 13 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 moved move VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 35 off off ADP RP _ 34 compound:prt _ _ 36 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 37 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 39 det _ _ 38 mysterious mysterious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 steps step NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obl _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 42 down down ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 43 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 out out ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 sight sight NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 48 into into ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 darkness darkness NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **loosen** | past | people | the chains | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent chain=Patient | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the dragon | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **excuse** *in a quote* | infinitive | | the dragon *= dragon* | | | moment | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | | 4 | **does** *in a quote* | present | one little things | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **like** *in a quote* | should | the dragon *= dragon* | one little things *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **fetch** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the dragon *= dragon* *not said here* | | | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **move off** | past | Dragon | | | | | to that mysterious steps | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to step=Trajectory | | 8 | **go down** | past | people *not said here* | people | | sight | | into the darkness; down *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme out sight=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 281](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/281/) - next →: [sentence 283](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/283/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon Tamers\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/)