--- title: And all the titled children took it in turns to feed the dragon with… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: And all the titled children took it in turns to feed the dragon with acid drops, and he seemed pleased and flattered, and wagged as much of his purple tail as he could get at conveniently; for it was a very, very long tail indeed. Who acts: titled children, Rotundia, dragon. A sentence of «The Book --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/10/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Book of Dragons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/) / [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/) / 10 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 10 And all the titled children took it in turns to feed the dragon with acid drops, and he seemed pleased and flattered, and wagged as much of his purple tail as he could get at conveniently; for it was a very, very long tail indeed. **Who acts:** titled children, Rotundia, dragon · **What happens:** title, take, feed, seem, flatter, wag · **To what, where:** dragon, turns, much This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (titled children, Rotundia, dragon), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg23661:4:10 # text = And all the titled children took it in turns to feed the dragon with acid drops, and he seemed pleased and flattered, and wagged as much of his purple tail as he could get at conveniently; for it was a very, very long tail indeed. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 2 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 5 det:predet _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 titled title VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 5 amod _ _ 5 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nsubj _ _ 6 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 obj _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 turns turn NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obl _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 feed feed VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 advcl _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 with with ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 acid acid NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 compound _ _ 16 drops drop NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 21 pleased pleased ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 xcomp _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 flattered flatter VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 wagged wag VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 27 as as ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 28 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 obj _ _ 29 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 30 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 31 purple purple ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod _ _ 33 as as SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 34 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 advcl _ _ 37 at at ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 conveniently conveniently ADV RB _ 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ; ; PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 40 for for ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 41 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 44 very very ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 46 very very ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 amod _ _ 48 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 conj _ _ 49 indeed indeed ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **title** | participle | | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **take** | past | all titled children | dragon | | turns | | | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Value in turn=Location | | 3 | **feed** | to-infinitive | all titled children *not said here* | | the dragon | | | with acid drops | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dragon=Recipient | | 4 | **seem** | past | Rotundia | | | | | pleased *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **flatter** | past | Rotundia *not said here* | | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **wag** | past | | much of Rotundia's purple tail | | | | | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Patient | | 7 | **get** | could | Rotundia | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **is** | past | dragon | | | | | for a long tail; indeed *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/9/) - next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/11/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/)