---
title: I am afraid all this is very dull, but you know geography is never q… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: I am afraid all this is very dull, but you know geography is never quite lively, and after all, I must give you a little information even in a fairy tale--like the powder in jam. Who acts: I, this, you, geography. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 3, with its dependency
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 3, sentence 30

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I am afraid all this is very dull, but you know geography is never quite lively, and after all, I must give you a little information even in a fairy tale--like the powder in jam.

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**Who acts:** I, this, you, geography · **What happens:** be, know, not be, give · **To what, where:** little information, you, fairy tale · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, this, you, geography), 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:pg23661:3:30
# text = I am afraid all this is very dull, but you know geography is never quite lively, and after all, I must give you a little information even in a fairy tale--like the powder in jam.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	geography	geography	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	lively	lively	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
20	after	after	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	iobj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
30	even	even	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	like	like	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	powder	powder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	jam	jam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | this |  |  |  |  | dull *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **is** | present | geography |  |  |  |  | lively *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | must | I | a little information | you | a fairy tale | after all | like the powder in jam | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient information=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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