---
title: There was only one dog in Rotundia--the kingdom could not afford to… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: There was only one dog in Rotundia--the kingdom could not afford to keep more than one: He was a Mexican lapdog of the kind that in most parts of the world only measures seven inches from the end of his dear nose to the tip of his darling tail--but in Rotundia he was bigger than I can possibly expec
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 3, sentence 61

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There was only one dog in Rotundia--the kingdom could not afford to keep more than one: He was a Mexican lapdog of the kind that in most parts of the world only measures seven inches from the end of his dear nose to the tip of his darling tail--but in Rotundia he was bigger than I can possibly expect you to believe.

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**Who acts:** one dog, kingdom, Tom, that, I, you · **What happens:** be, not afford, keep, measure, expect, believe · **To what, where:** Rotundia, one, Mexican lapdog, seven inches, most parts, you

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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 (one dog, kingdom, Tom, that), 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:pg23661:3:61
# text = There was only one dog in Rotundia--the kingdom could not afford to keep more than one: He was a Mexican lapdog of the kind that in most parts of the world only measures seven inches from the end of his dear nose to the tip of his darling tail--but in Rotundia he was bigger than I can possibly expect you to believe.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Rotundia	Rotundia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	afford	afford	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	18	advmod	_	_
17	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	fixed	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	Mexican	Mexican	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	lapdog	lapdog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
31	parts	part	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	only	only	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	measures	measure	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
37	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
38	inches	inch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
44	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	tip	tip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
51	darling	darling	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
55	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	Rotundia	Rotundia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	cop	_	_
59	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	36	conj	_	_
60	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
61	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
62	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
63	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	64	advmod	_	_
64	expect	expect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	advcl	_	_
65	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	64	obj	_	_
66	to	to	PART	TO	_	67	mark	_	_
67	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | one dog |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **afford** | could | the kingdom |  |  | Rotundia |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | to-infinitive | the kingdom *not said here* | one |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Tom | a Mexican lapdog |  |  |  | of the kind | tree rules |
| 5 | **measure** | present | that | seven inches |  | most parts of the world | from the end of Tom's dear nose to the tip of Tom's darling tail |  | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme inch=Value |
| 6 | **is** | past | Tom |  |  | Rotundia |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **expect** | can | I | you |  |  |  | possibly *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **believe** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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