---
title: "The only cure for a dragon burn," said the old nurse, "is pig's fat… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "The only cure for a dragon burn," said the old nurse, "is pig's fat, and well that faithful creature knows it----" Who acts: only cure, faithful creature. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Fiery Dragon], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, The Fiery Dragon\], sentence 232

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"The only cure for a dragon burn," said the old nurse, "is pig's fat, and well that faithful creature knows it----"

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**Who acts:** only cure, faithful creature · **What happens:** say, be, know · **To what, where:** old nurse, fat, cure · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Fiery Dragon\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (only cure, faithful creature), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg23661:13:232
# text = "The only cure for a dragon burn," said the old nurse, "is pig's fat, and well that faithful creature knows it----"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cure	cure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	burn	burn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	pig	pig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	's	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
24	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
25	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	----	----	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the only cure for a dragon burn | the old nurse |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nurse=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | pig's fat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | that faithful creature | cure |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

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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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