---
title: But one morning their mother was busy preparing some new dragon pois… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: But one morning their mother was busy preparing some new dragon poison to lay down in the cellars, and their father was bandaging the hand of the boot boy, which had been scratched by one of the dragons who liked to eat Prime Ministers when they were to be had, so nobody remembered to say to the chi
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But one morning their mother was busy preparing some new dragon poison to lay down in the cellars, and their father was bandaging the hand of the boot boy, which had been scratched by one of the dragons who liked to eat Prime Ministers when they were to be had, so nobody remembered to say to the children: "Don't get up till it is quite dark!"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mother, father, dragons, nobody, hand · **What happens:** be, prepare, lay down, bandage, scratch, like · **To what, where:** dragon poison, cellars, hand, boot boy, Prime Ministers, police · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, father, dragons, nobody), 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:pg23661:5:102
# text = But one morning their mother was busy preparing some new dragon poison to lay down in the cellars, and their father was bandaging the hand of the boot boy, which had been scratched by one of the dragons who liked to eat Prime Ministers when they were to be had, so nobody remembered to say to the children: "Don't get up till it is quite dark!"
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	preparing	prepare	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	advcl	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
10	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
15	down	down	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	cellars	cellar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	bandaging	bandage	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	boot	boot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl:relcl	_	_
36	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	_
41	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
42	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	Prime	Prime	PROPN	NNP	_	46	compound	_	_
46	Ministers	minister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obj	_	_
47	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	52	advmod	_	_
48	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
49	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	aux:pass	_	_
52	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	so	so	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
55	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	56	nsubj	_	_
56	remembered	remember	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	xcomp	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	66	punct	_	_
63	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	66	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	66	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	66	advmod	_	_
66	get	get	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
67	up	up	ADP	RP	_	66	compound:prt	_	_
68	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	72	mark	_	_
69	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj	_	_
70	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	72	cop	_	_
71	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	72	advmod	_	_
72	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | police's mother |  |  |  | morning | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **prepare** | gerund | police's mother *not said here* | some dragon poison |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poison=Patient |
| 3 | **lay down** | to-infinitive | police's mother *not said here* |  |  | the cellars |  | down *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in cellar=Destination |
| 4 | **bandage** | past · progressive | police's father | the hand of the boot boy |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Destination |
| 5 | **scratch** | past · perfect · passive |  | the boot boy |  |  |  | by one of the dragons | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient by one=Location |
| 6 | **like** | past | the dragons |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 7 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the dragons *not said here* | Prime Ministers |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent minister=Patient |
| 8 | **have** | past · passive |  | police |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **remember** | past | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | nobody *not said here* |  | the children |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to child=Recipient |
| 11 | **not** **get up** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 12 | **is** *in a quote* | present | hand |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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