---
title: He did not like many things--a nice kingdom was almost the only thin… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He did not like many things--a nice kingdom was almost the only thing he cared for--but he had never seen his way quite clearly, because everyone is so kind in Rotundia that wicked spells will not work there, but run off those blameless islanders like water off a duck's back. Who acts: uncle, nice k
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He did not like many things--a nice kingdom was almost the only thing he cared for--but he had never seen his way quite clearly, because everyone is so kind in Rotundia that wicked spells will not work there, but run off those blameless islanders like water off a duck's back.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** uncle, nice kingdom, everyone, that · **What happens:** not like, be, care, not see, not work, run off · **To what, where:** many things, only thing, way, Rotundia, blameless islanders, back

<!-- .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 (uncle, nice kingdom, everyone, that), 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:pg23661:4:20
# text = He did not like many things--a nice kingdom was almost the only thing he cared for--but he had never seen his way quite clearly, because everyone is so kind in Rotundia that wicked spells will not work there, but run off those blameless islanders like water off a duck's back.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	cared	care	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	34	nsubj	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Rotundia	Rotundia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
38	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nsubj	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	parataxis	_	_
43	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	run	run	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
47	off	off	ADP	RP	_	46	compound:prt	_	_
48	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	50	det	_	_
49	blameless	blameless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	islanders	islander	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	_
51	like	like	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	_
53	off	off	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	's	's	PART	POS	_	55	case	_	_
57	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **like** | past · do-support | uncle | many things |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot thing=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | a nice kingdom | the only thing |  |  |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **care** | past | uncle | the only thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **see** | past · perfect | uncle | uncle's way |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | present | everyone |  |  | Rotundia |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **work** | future | that |  |  | there |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **run off** | present | uncle *not said here* | that blameless islanders |  | a duck's back |  | like water | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent islander=Theme off back=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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