---
title: Then quite suddenly a cloud passed over the sun, and the silence was… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Then quite suddenly a cloud passed over the sun, and the silence was broken by shrieks from far off; and, like a many-colored torrent, all the children burst from the wood and rushed, a red and blue and yellow and white wave, across the field, screaming as they ran. Who acts: shrieks, children, red 
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/13/29/)

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# The Book of Dragons, The Fiery Dragon\], sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then quite suddenly a cloud passed over the sun, and the silence was broken by shrieks from far off; and, like a many-colored torrent, all the children burst from the wood and rushed, a red and blue and yellow and white wave, across the field, screaming as they ran.

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**Who acts:** shrieks, children, red wave · **What happens:** pass, break, color, burst, rush, scream · **To what, where:** cloud, sun, silence, wood

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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 (shrieks, children, red wave), 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:pg23661:13:29
# text = Then quite suddenly a cloud passed over the sun, and the silence was broken by shrieks from far off; and, like a many-colored torrent, all the children burst from the wood and rushed, a red and blue and yellow and white wave, across the field, screaming as they ran.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	over	over	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	shrieks	shriek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
20	off	off	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
26	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	colored	color	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	amod	_	_
29	torrent	torrent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	33	det:predet	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
34	burst	burst	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	parataxis	_	_
35	from	from	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	rushed	rush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
42	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	_
49	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	across	across	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
55	screaming	scream	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	49	acl	_	_
56	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
57	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | participle |  | a cloud and a colored torrent and a red wave and the field *not said here* |  | the sun |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over sun=Location |
| 2 | **break** | past · passive | shrieks | the silence |  |  |  | off *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Patient |
| 3 | **color** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn coloring-24 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **burst** | present | all children |  |  | the wood |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **rush** | past | all children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **scream** *speech: express* | gerund | a red wave and the field *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **run** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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