---
title: The dragon had sent the kingdom of Rotundia spinning the way it ough… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The dragon had sent the kingdom of Rotundia spinning the way it ought to have gone at the beginning of the world, and as it spun around, all the animals began to change sizes. Who acts: dragon, animals. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and t
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/139/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 139

# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 139

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dragon had sent the kingdom of Rotundia spinning the way it ought to have gone at the beginning of the world, and as it spun around, all the animals began to change sizes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dragon, animals · **What happens:** send, spin, go, spin around, begin, change · **To what, where:** dragon, way, beginning, sizes, world

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (dragon, animals), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg23661:4:139
# text = The dragon had sent the kingdom of Rotundia spinning the way it ought to have gone at the beginning of the world, and as it spun around, all the animals began to change sizes.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dragon	dragon	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	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Rotundia	Rotundia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	acl:relcl	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	beginning	beginning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	spun	spin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
28	around	around	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	32	det:predet	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
33	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	sizes	size	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past · perfect · passive |  | the dragon |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination kingdom=Theme |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund |  | the way |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go** | ought · perfect | dragon | the way *not said here* |  |  | at the beginning of the world |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at beginning=Location |
| 4 | **spin around** | past | dragon |  |  |  |  | around *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **begin** | past | all animals |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **change** | to-infinitive | all animals *not said here* | sizes |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent size=Patient |
| 7 | **begin** |  |  | the world |  |  |  |  | nom beginning «event transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 138](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/138/)
- next →: [sentence 140](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/140/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/4/)