---
title: "I am not taking the hammer because I think there is something there… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "I am not taking the hammer because I think there is something there," said he, "but it is handy for breaking the large lumps of coal." Who acts: I, something, blacksmith, hammer. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Dragon Tamers], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I am not taking the hammer because I think there is something there," said he, "but it is handy for breaking the large lumps of coal."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, something, blacksmith, hammer · **What happens:** not take, think, be, say, break · **To what, where:** hammer, large lumps · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I, something, blacksmith, hammer), 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:pg23661:12:37
# text = "I am not taking the hammer because I think there is something there," said he, "but it is handy for breaking the large lumps of coal."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hammer	hammer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
13	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	nsubj	_	_
14	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	handy	handy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	parataxis	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	lumps	lump	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	coal	coal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **take** *in a quote* | present · progressive | I | the hammer |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hammer=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* | present | something |  |  | there; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | blacksmith |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | hammer |  |  |  |  | handy *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **break** *in a quote* | gerund | hammer *not said here* | the large lumps of coal |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer lump=Patient |

<!-- .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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