---
title: He was the only person in his town who knew how to manage dragons; t… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He was the only person in his town who knew how to manage dragons; the people in the fairy tales don't count. Who acts: Harry, town, people. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 108

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He was the only person in his town who knew how to manage dragons; the people in the fairy tales don't count.

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**Who acts:** Harry, town, people · **What happens:** be, know, manage, not count · **To what, where:** only person, town, dragons

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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 (Harry, town, people), 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:pg23661:5:108
# text = He was the only person in his town who knew how to manage dragons; the people in the fairy tales don't count.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
22	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Harry | the only person |  | Harry's town |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past | Harry's town |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **manage** | to-infinitive | Harry's town *not said here* | dragons |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dragon=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **count** | present · do-support | the people in the fairy tales |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

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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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