--- title: But while he was speaking the rabbits had come up one on each side o… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: But while he was speaking the rabbits had come up one on each side of him, their great sides towering ever so high, and now they pressed him between them so that he was buried in their thick fur and almost choked. Who acts: boy, speaking, great sides, rabbits. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/114/) [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/) / 114 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 114 But while he was speaking the rabbits had come up one on each side of him, their great sides towering ever so high, and now they pressed him between them so that he was buried in their thick fur and almost choked. **Who acts:** boy, speaking, great sides, rabbits · **What happens:** speak, come up, tower, press, bury, choke · **To what, where:** rabbits, one, side, boy, thick fur · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (boy, speaking, great sides, rabbits), 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:pg23661:4:114 # text = But while he was speaking the rabbits had come up one on each side of him, their great sides towering ever so high, and now they pressed him between them so that he was buried in their thick fur and almost choked. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 2 while while SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 speaking speak VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 9 csubj:pass _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 rabbits rabbit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obj _ _ 8 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 come come VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 10 up up ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 11 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 9 obj _ _ 12 on on ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 14 det _ _ 14 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 19 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 sides side NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ _ 21 towering tower VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 20 acl _ _ 22 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 21 advmod _ _ 23 so so ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 27 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 29 advmod _ _ 28 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 pressed press VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 30 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ _ 31 between between ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obl _ _ 33 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 37 mark _ _ 34 that that SCONJ IN _ 33 fixed _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj:pass _ _ 36 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux:pass _ _ 37 buried bury VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 advcl _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 40 thick thick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 fur fur NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 43 almost almost ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 44 choked choke VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · progressive | boy | the rabbits | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **come up** | past · perfect | speaking | one | | each side of boy | | rabbits's great sides *obl* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location one=Theme | | 3 | **tower** | gerund | rabbits's great sides *not said here* | | | | ever | high *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **press** | past | rabbits *= rabbit* | boy | | | now | between things *= thing* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V NP ADJP-Result»: agent=Agent he=Result | | 5 | **bury** | past · passive | | boy | | things's thick fur | | | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in fur=Destination | | 6 | **choke** | participle | | | | | | almost *property* | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | 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 113](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/113/) - next →: [sentence 115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/115/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/)