---
title: He was flying very feebly, and looking around everywhere for a tree,… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He was flying very feebly, and looking around everywhere for a tree, for it was just on the stroke of twelve, the sun was shining like a gold guinea in the blue sky, and there was not a tree for a hundred miles. Who acts: Dragon, haste, sun. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening,
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 2, sentence 81

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He was flying very feebly, and looking around everywhere for a tree, for it was just on the stroke of twelve, the sun was shining like a gold guinea in the blue sky, and there was not a tree for a hundred miles.

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**Who acts:** Dragon, haste, sun · **What happens:** fly, look around, be, shine, not be · **To what, where:** flying tree

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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 (Dragon, haste, sun), 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:pg23661:2:81
# text = He was flying very feebly, and looking around everywhere for a tree, for it was just on the stroke of twelve, the sun was shining like a gold guinea in the blue sky, and there was not a tree for a hundred miles.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	43	amod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	feebly	feebly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	around	around	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
18	just	just	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	shining	shine	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
29	like	like	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	guinea	guinea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
39	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	40	expl	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
41	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
44	for	for	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	47	nummod	_	_
47	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past · progressive | Dragon |  |  |  |  | feebly *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look around** | gerund | Dragon *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a tree; everywhere *property* | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for tree=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | haste |  |  |  |  | for the stroke; of twelve | tree rules |
| 4 | **shine** | past · progressive | the sun |  |  |  |  | like a gold guinea in the blue sky | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **is a** | past |  | a flying tree |  |  |  | for hundred miles | tree rules |

<!-- .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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