--- title: So when he said: "There is to be a law forbidding people to open boo… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: So when he said: "There is to be a law forbidding people to open books in schools or elsewhere"--he had the support of at least half of his subjects, and the other half--the grown-up half--pretended to think he was quite right. Who acts: Lionel, law. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/2/5/) [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/) / [Opening, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/2/) / 5 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 2, sentence 5 So when he said: "There is to be a law forbidding people to open books in schools or elsewhere"--he had the support of at least half of his subjects, and the other half--the grown-up half--pretended to think he was quite right. **Who acts:** Lionel, law · **What happens:** say, be, forbid, open, have, grow up · **To what, where:** people, books, schools, support, half · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lionel, law), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg23661:2:5 # text = So when he said: "There is to be a law forbidding people to open books in schools or elsewhere"--he had the support of at least half of his subjects, and the other half--the grown-up half--pretended to think he was quite right. 1 So so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 : : PUNCT : _ 8 punct _ _ 6 " " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 8 expl _ _ 8 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 advcl _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 10 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 13 aux _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 law law NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 13 forbidding forbid VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 ccomp _ _ 14 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 open open VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 advcl _ _ 17 books book NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obj _ _ 18 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 schools school NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ _ 20 or or CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 elsewhere elsewhere ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 " " PUNCT '' _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 -- -- PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 support support NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 at at ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 least least ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 31 nmod _ _ 31 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 27 nmod _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 subjects subject NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 25 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 -- -- PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 42 grown grow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 up up ADP RP _ 42 compound:prt _ _ 45 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 39 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 -- -- PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 pretended pretend VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 39 conj _ _ 48 to to PART TO _ 49 mark _ _ 49 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 47 xcomp _ _ 50 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 nsubj _ _ 51 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 53 cop _ _ 52 quite quite ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ _ 53 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Lionel | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a law *not said here* | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **forbid** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · progressive | a law | people | | | | | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer people=Theme | | 4 | **open** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a law *not said here* | books | | schools | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent book=Theme in school=Location | | 5 | **have** | past | Lionel | the support of half at least of Lionel's subjects | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent support=Patient | | 6 | **grow up** | participle | | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **pretend** | participle | Lionel *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Lionel *not said here* | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **is** | past | Lionel | | | | | right *property* | tree rules | | 10 | **support** | | | half at least of Lionel's subjects | | | | | nom support «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/2/4/) - next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/2/6/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/2/)