---
title: He looked out across the downs--there were hardly any rabbits playin… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He looked out across the downs--there were hardly any rabbits playing there now--and then he gathered white roses and threw them at the Princess's window till she woke up and looked out. Who acts: Tom, rabbits, Princess. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 4, with its dep
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 4, sentence 77

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He looked out across the downs--there were hardly any rabbits playing there now--and then he gathered white roses and threw them at the Princess's window till she woke up and looked out.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Tom, rabbits, Princess · **What happens:** look out, be, play, gather, throw, wake up · **To what, where:** downs, white roses, roses, window

<!-- .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 (Tom, rabbits, Princess), 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:pg23661:4:77
# text = He looked out across the downs--there were hardly any rabbits playing there now--and then he gathered white roses and threw them at the Princess's window till she woke up and looked out.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	out	out	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	across	across	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	downs	down	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	9	expl	_	_
9	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
13	playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
15	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	roses	rose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	's	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
31	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	woke	wake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
34	up	up	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	RP	_	36	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look out** | past | Tom |  |  | the downs |  |  | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **be** | past | any rabbits |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **play** | gerund | any rabbits *not said here* |  |  | there | now |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **gather** | past | Tom | white roses |  |  | then |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rose=Theme |
| 5 | **throw** | past | Tom *not said here* | roses *= rose* |  | the Princess's window |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme at window=Destination |
| 6 | **wake up** | past | Princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **look out** | past | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: 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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