---
title: It was then that he saw _The Book of Beasts_ lying on the pebbles, o… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: It was then that he saw _The Book of Beasts_ lying on the pebbles, open at the page with "Dragon" written at the bottom. Who acts: snatch, Book. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 2, sentence 86

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It was then that he saw \_The Book of Beasts\_ lying on the pebbles, open at the page with "Dragon" written at the bottom.

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**Who acts:** snatch, Book · **What happens:** be, \_, lie, write · **To what, where:** pebbles, page, bottom

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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 (snatch, Book), 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:pg23661:2:86
# text = It was then that he saw _The Book of Beasts_ lying on the pebbles, open at the page with "Dragon" written at the bottom.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj:outer	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Book	Book	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Beasts	Beast	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	_	_	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
13	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	xcomp	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	pebbles	pebble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	page	page	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	Dragon	Dragon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
26	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | snatch |  |  |  | then | see *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **\_** | present | the Book of Beasts |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **lie** | gerund | the Book of Beasts *not said here* |  |  | the pebbles |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on pebble=Location |
| 4 | **write** | participle |  | the page with Dragon *not said here* |  | the bottom |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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