---
title: It was clever of the paper to think of calling them that--it is such… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: It was clever of the paper to think of calling them that--it is such a pretty and novel expression, and I think it is truer than many of the things you see in papers. Who acts: pair, I, you. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 13

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It was clever of the paper to think of calling them that--it is such a pretty and novel expression, and I think it is truer than many of the things you see in papers.

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**Who acts:** pair, I, you · **What happens:** be, think, call, see · **To what, where:** couple, novel expression, things, papers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (pair, I, you), 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:pg23661:5:13
# text = It was clever of the paper to think of calling them that--it is such a pretty and novel expression, and I think it is truer than many of the things you see in papers.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
9	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
16	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	21	det:predet	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
18	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	novel	novel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	truer	true	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	ccomp	_	_
29	than	than	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
34	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	papers	paper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | pair |  |  |  |  | of the paper; clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | pair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **call** | gerund | pair *not said here* | couple |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme that=Result |
| 4 | **is a** | present | pair | such novel expression |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | present | pair |  |  |  |  | than many of the things; true *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **see** | present | you | the things *not said here* |  | papers |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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