---
title: "The present the dragon expects," said Uncle James, cheerfully, "is… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "The present the dragon expects," said Uncle James, cheerfully, "is rather an expensive one. Who acts: present, Uncle James. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 66

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"The present the dragon expects," said Uncle James, cheerfully, "is rather an expensive one.

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**Who acts:** present, Uncle James · **What happens:** expect, say, be · **To what, where:** expensive one · **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 (present, Uncle James), 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:pg23661:4:66
# text = "The present the dragon expects," said Uncle James, cheerfully, "is rather an expensive one.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	expects	expect	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	James	James	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	cheerfully	cheerfully	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
17	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	expensive	expensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expect** *in a quote* | present | the present |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Uncle James |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | a expensive one |  |  |  | cheerfully *property* | tree rules |

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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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