---
title: His wings were like old purple umbrellas that have been very much ra… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: His wings were like old purple umbrellas that have been very much rained on, and his head was large and bald, like the top of a purple toadstool, and his tail, which was purple too, was very, very, very long and thin and tight, like the lash of a carriage whip. Who acts: wings, head, tail, old purpl
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 3, sentence 81

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His wings were like old purple umbrellas that have been very much rained on, and his head was large and bald, like the top of a purple toadstool, and his tail, which was purple too, was very, very, very long and thin and tight, like the lash of a carriage whip.

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**Who acts:** wings, head, tail, old purple umbrellas · **What happens:** be, rain on · **To what, where:** old purple umbrellas

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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 (wings, head, tail, old purple umbrellas), 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:pg23661:3:81
# text = His wings were like old purple umbrellas that have been very much rained on, and his head was large and bald, like the top of a purple toadstool, and his tail, which was purple too, was very, very, very long and thin and tight, like the lash of a carriage whip.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	umbrellas	umbrella	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	aux:pass	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	much	much	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	rained	rain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	parataxis	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	bald	bald	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	toadstool	toadstool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
39	too	too	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
42	very	very	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
44	very	very	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	very	very	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	conj	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	like	like	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	lash	lash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	compound	_	_
59	whip	whip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	47	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Tom's wings |  |  |  |  | like old purple umbrellas | tree rules |
| 2 | **rain on** | present · perfect · passive |  | old purple umbrellas |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | Tom's head |  |  |  |  | like the top of a purple toadstool; large *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | Tom's head *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | Tom's tail |  |  |  |  | purple *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | old purple umbrellas |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **be** |  | old purple umbrellas *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** |  | old purple umbrellas *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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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