---
title: It was his custom to hunt big game with hippopotamuses, and people w… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: It was his custom to hunt big game with hippopotamuses, and people would not have minded that so much--but he would swagger about in the streets of the town with his pack yelping and gamboling at his heels, and when he did that, the green-grocer, who had his stall in the marketplace, always regrette
---

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[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 Fiery Dragon\]](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/13/) / 43

# The Book of Dragons, The Fiery Dragon\], sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was his custom to hunt big game with hippopotamuses, and people would not have minded that so much--but he would swagger about in the streets of the town with his pack yelping and gamboling at his heels, and when he did that, the green-grocer, who had his stall in the marketplace, always regretted it; and the crockery merchant, who spread his wares on the pavement, was ruined for life every time the Prince chose to show off his pack.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** pack, people, Prince, green grocer, marketplace, crockery merchant · **What happens:** be, hunt, not mind, swagger, yelp, gambol · **To what, where:** custom, big game, that, streets, heels, stall

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (pack, people, Prince, green grocer), 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:pg23661:13:43
# text = It was his custom to hunt big game with hippopotamuses, and people would not have minded that so much--but he would swagger about in the streets of the town with his pack yelping and gamboling at his heels, and when he did that, the green-grocer, who had his stall in the marketplace, always regretted it; and the crockery merchant, who spread his wares on the pavement, was ruined for life every time the Prince chose to show off his pack.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	hunt	hunt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
7	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	hippopotamuses	hippopotamus	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux	_	_
17	minded	mind	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	obj	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	much	much	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	swagger	swagger	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
26	about	about	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	pack	pack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	yelping	yelp	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	acl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	gamboling	gambol	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	conj	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	46	advmod	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
47	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
50	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	grocer	grocer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
55	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	acl:relcl	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	stall	stall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	marketplace	marketplace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
62	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	63	advmod	_	_
63	regretted	regret	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	acl:relcl	_	_
64	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	80	punct	_	_
66	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	80	cc	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
68	crockery	crockery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	compound	_	_
69	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
71	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	72	nsubj	_	_
72	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	69	acl:relcl	_	_
73	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	74	nmod:poss	_	_
74	wares	ware	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	72	obj	_	_
75	on	on	ADP	IN	_	77	case	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	pavement	pavement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
79	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	80	aux:pass	_	_
80	ruined	ruin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
81	for	for	ADP	IN	_	82	case	_	_
82	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	obl	_	_
83	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	84	det	_	_
84	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	87	obl:unmarked	_	_
85	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	86	det	_	_
86	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	87	nsubj	_	_
87	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	80	conj	_	_
88	to	to	PART	TO	_	89	mark	_	_
89	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	87	xcomp	_	_
90	off	off	ADP	RP	_	89	compound:prt	_	_
91	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	92	nmod:poss	_	_
92	pack	pack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	89	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
93	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | pack | Prince's custom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hunt** | to-infinitive |  | big game |  |  |  | with hippopotamuses | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent game=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **mind** | would · perfect | people | that |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme |
| 4 | **swagger** | would | Prince |  |  | the streets of the town with Prince's pack |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in street=Trajectory |
| 5 | **yelp** | gerund | Prince's pack *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **gambol** | gerund | Prince's pack *not said here* |  |  | Prince's heels |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at heel=Trajectory |
| 7 | **do** | past | Prince | that |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality |
| 8 | **have** | past | the green grocer | Prince's stall |  | the marketplace |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stall=Patient |
| 9 | **regret** | past | the marketplace *not said here* | pack |  |  |  | always *property* | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 10 | **spread** | past | the crockery merchant | Prince's wares |  | the pavement |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent ware=Theme on pavement=Destination |
| 11 | **ruin** | past · passive |  | the crockery merchant |  |  |  | for life | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 12 | **choose** | past | the Prince |  |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 13 | **show off** | to-infinitive | the Prince *not said here* | Prince's pack |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent pack=Recipient |

<!-- .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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