---
title: He played truant whenever he could, for he was a kindhearted boy, an… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He played truant whenever he could, for he was a kindhearted boy, and could not bear to think of a master's time and labor being thrown away on a boy like himself--who did not wish to learn, only to find out--when there were so many worthy lads thirsting for instruction in geography and history and 
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Kind Little Edmund\], sentence 20

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He played truant whenever he could, for he was a kindhearted boy, and could not bear to think of a master's time and labor being thrown away on a boy like himself--who did not wish to learn, only to find out--when there were so many worthy lads thirsting for instruction in geography and history and reading and ciphering, and Mr. Smiles's "Self-Help."

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**Who acts:** waste, boy, time, many worthy lads · **What happens:** play, be, not bear, think, throw away, not wish · **To what, where:** kindhearted boy, Self Help, time, geography · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Kind Little Edmund\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (waste, boy, time, many worthy lads), 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:pg23661:14:20
# text = He played truant whenever he could, for he was a kindhearted boy, and could not bear to think of a master's time and labor being thrown away on a boy like himself--who did not wish to learn, only to find out--when there were so many worthy lads thirsting for instruction in geography and history and reading and ciphering, and Mr. Smiles's "Self-Help."
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	truant	truant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	6	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	kindhearted	kindhearted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	's	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	labor	labor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
28	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl	_	_
30	away	away	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl:agent	_	_
34	like	like	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
38	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
40	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	only	only	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	ccomp	_	_
47	out	out	ADP	RP	_	46	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	51	advmod	_	_
50	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	51	expl	_	_
51	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	parataxis	_	_
52	so	so	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
54	worthy	worthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	lads	lad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nsubj	_	_
56	thirsting	thirst	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	55	acl	_	_
57	for	for	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	instruction	instruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
59	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	geography	geography	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	_
63	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
64	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
66	ciphering	ciphering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	75	punct	_	_
68	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	75	cc	_	_
69	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	70	nmod:desc	_	_
70	Smiles	Smiles	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	75	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	's	's	PART	POS	_	70	case	_	_
72	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	75	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	Self	self	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	75	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	73	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	Help	Help	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | past | waste |  |  |  |  | truant *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | waste | a kindhearted boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **bear** | could | waste *not said here* | Self Help |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | waste *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **throw away** | gerund · passive | a boy | a master's time and labor *not said here* |  |  |  | like waste; away *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **not** **wish** | past · do-support | a master's time and labor |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 7 | **learn** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a master's time and labor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **find out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **be** | past | many worthy lads |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **thirst** | gerund | many worthy lads *not said here* |  |  | geography and history and reading and ciphering |  | for instruction | vn long-32.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for instruction=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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