---
title: Though, of course, I know there are some people who could not be hap… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Though, of course, I know there are some people who could not be happy unless they had a whale to sail on, and perhaps not even then. Who acts: I, 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 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Though, of course, I know there are some people who could not be happy unless they had a whale to sail on, and perhaps not even then.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, people · **What happens:** know, be, not be, have, sail on · **To what, where:** whale · **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 (I, 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:pg23661:5:16
# text = Though, of course, I know there are some people who could not be happy unless they had a whale to sail on, and perhaps not even then.
1	Though	though	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADV	7	advmod	_	_
4	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	9	expl	_	_
9	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
10	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	acl:relcl	_	_
17	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	sail	sail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	even	even	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  | then | though *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **does** | present | some people |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **is** | could | some people |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | people | a whale |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whale=Patient |
| 5 | **sail on** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: 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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