---
title: There was once an old, old castle--it was so old that its walls and… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once an old, old castle--it was so old that its walls and towers and turrets and gateways and arches had crumbled to ruins, and of all its old splendor there were only two little rooms left; and it was here that John the blacksmith had set up his forge. Who acts: old old castle, castle, wa
---

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# The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was once an old, old castle--it was so old that its walls and towers and turrets and gateways and arches had crumbled to ruins, and of all its old splendor there were only two little rooms left; and it was here that John the blacksmith had set up his forge.

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**Who acts:** old old castle, castle, walls, splendor · **What happens:** be, crumble, leave, set up · **To what, where:** two little rooms, John blacksmith

<!-- .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 (old old castle, castle, walls, splendor), 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:pg23661:12:3
# text = There was once an old, old castle--it was so old that its walls and towers and turrets and gateways and arches had crumbled to ruins, and of all its old splendor there were only two little rooms left; and it was here that John the blacksmith had set up his forge.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	turrets	turret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	gateways	gateway	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	arches	arch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	crumbled	crumble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	ruins	ruin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	35	det:predet	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	splendor	splendor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
36	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	37	expl	_	_
37	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl:relcl	_	_
38	only	only	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	41	nummod	_	_
40	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	rooms	room	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
42	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
46	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
47	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	ccomp	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
49	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	compound	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	blacksmith	blacksmith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	advcl	_	_
54	up	up	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	forge	forge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a old old castle |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | castle |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **crumble** | past · perfect | castle's walls and towers and turrets and gateways and arches |  |  |  |  | to ruins *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient to ruin=Result |
| 4 | **leave** | participle |  | two little rooms *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | splendor |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **set up** | past · perfect · passive |  | the John blacksmith |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme forge=Destination |

<!-- .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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