---
title: Tom gave all the buns to the dragon, saying: "Here, try to eat a lit… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Tom gave all the buns to the dragon, saying: "Here, try to eat a little. Who acts: Tom. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 3, sentence 96

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Tom gave all the buns to the dragon, saying: "Here, try to eat a little.

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**Who acts:** Tom · **What happens:** give, say, try, eat · **To what, where:** buns, dragon, little · **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 (Tom), 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:pg23661:3:96
# text = Tom gave all the buns to the dragon, saying: "Here, try to eat a little.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	5	det:predet	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	buns	bun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | Tom | all buns | the dragon |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent bun=Theme to dragon=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Tom *not said here* |  |  | here |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **try** *in a quote* | infinitive | Tom *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **eat** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | Tom *not said here* | a little |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent little=Patient |

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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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