---
title: A crowd had followed the cab out of the town; now they reached the s… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: A crowd had followed the cab out of the town; now they reached the scene of the "State Function"--and they all cried out: "Fair play--play fair! Who acts: rabbits, Fair play. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 116

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A crowd had followed the cab out of the town; now they reached the scene of the "State Function"--and they all cried out: "Fair play--play fair!

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**Who acts:** rabbits, Fair play · **What happens:** follow, reach, cry out, play · **To what, where:** crowd, town, scene, Fair play · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (rabbits, Fair play), 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:pg23661:4:116
# text = A crowd had followed the cab out of the town; now they reached the scene of the "State Function"--and they all cried out: "Fair play--play fair!
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	crowd	crowd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cab	cab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	scene	scene	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	State	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	Function	function	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	advmod	_	_
27	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
28	out	out	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
30	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	Fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	acl	_	_
35	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past · perfect · passive |  | a crowd |  | the town |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP.attribute»: subject=Theme cab=Attribute |
| 2 | **reach** | past | rabbits *= rabbit* | the scene of the State Function |  |  | now |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent scene=Theme |
| 3 | **cry out** *speech: express* | past | rabbits *= rabbit* | Fair play |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **play** *in a quote* | infinitive | Fair play *not said here* |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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