--- title: It was like the noise of some great creature purring, purring, purri… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: It was like the noise of some great creature purring, purring, purring--and the reason they did not want to believe they really heard it was that it came from the great dungeon down below, where the old iron was, and the firewood and the twopence worth of coal, and the broken steps that went down in --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/30/) [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/) / 30 # The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 30 It was like the noise of some great creature purring, purring, purring--and the reason they did not want to believe they really heard it was that it came from the great dungeon down below, where the old iron was, and the firewood and the twopence worth of coal, and the broken steps that went down into the dark and ended no one knew where. **Who acts:** noise, great creature, blowing, reason, broken steps, old iron · **What happens:** be, purr, not want, believe, hear, break · **To what, where:** reason, noise, great dungeon, dark, one · **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 (noise, great creature, blowing, reason), 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:pg23661:12:30 # text = It was like the noise of some great creature purring, purring, purring--and the reason they did not want to believe they really heard it was that it came from the great dungeon down below, where the old iron was, and the firewood and the twopence worth of coal, and the broken steps that went down into the dark and ended no one knew where. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 3 like like ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 noise noise NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 9 det _ _ 8 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ _ 10 purring purr VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 9 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 purring purr VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 10 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 14 purring purr VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 10 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 -- -- PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 reason reason NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 parataxis _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 22 want want VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 acl:relcl _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ _ 25 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 really really ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 ccomp _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 30 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 31 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 acl _ _ 33 from from ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 35 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 dungeon dungeon NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 37 down down ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 below below ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 70 punct _ _ 40 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 70 advmod _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 iron iron NOUN NN Number=Sing 70 nsubj _ _ 44 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 70 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 70 punct _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 70 cc _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 firewood firewood NOUN NN Number=Sing 70 nsubj _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 51 twopence twopence NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 compound _ _ 52 worth worth NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 conj _ _ 53 of of ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 54 coal coal NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 55 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 56 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 57 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 58 broken break VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 59 amod _ _ 59 steps step NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 conj _ _ 60 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 61 nsubj _ _ 61 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 acl:relcl _ _ 62 down down ADV RB _ 61 advmod _ _ 63 into into ADP IN _ 65 case _ _ 64 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 65 dark dark NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 obl _ _ 66 and and CCONJ CC _ 67 cc _ _ 67 ended end VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 61 conj _ _ 68 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 69 det _ _ 69 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 obj _ _ 70 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 advcl _ _ 71 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 70 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 72 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | noise | | | | | like the noise; of some great creature | tree rules | | 2 | **purr** | gerund | some great creature *not said here* | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **purr** | gerund | some great creature *not said here* | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **purr** | gerund | some great creature *not said here* | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **not** **want** | past · do-support | blowing | the reason *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **believe** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the reason *not said here* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 7 | **hear** | past | blowing | noise | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 8 | **is** | past | noise | the reason *not said here* | | the great dungeon | | below, come *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **break** | participle | | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 10 | **go down** | past | the broken steps | | | the dark | | down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 11 | **end** | past | the broken steps *not said here* | no one | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality one=Eventuality | | 12 | **is** | past | the old iron | | | | | know *property* | tree rules | 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 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/31/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon Tamers\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/)