---
title: Effie had often got things in her eye before, and her father had alw… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Effie had often got things in her eye before, and her father had always seemed to think it was natural--rather tiresome and naughty perhaps, but still natural. Who acts: Effie, father. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 25

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Effie had often got things in her eye before, and her father had always seemed to think it was natural--rather tiresome and naughty perhaps, but still natural.

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**Who acts:** Effie, father · **What happens:** get, have, seem, think, be · **To what, where:** things, eye · **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 (Effie, father), 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:pg23661:5:25
# text = Effie had often got things in her eye before, and her father had always seemed to think it was natural--rather tiresome and naughty perhaps, but still natural.
1	Effie	Effie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	often	often	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	before	before	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	16	advmod	_	_
16	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	expl	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	tiresome	tiresome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	naughty	naughty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
27	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	still	still	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past · perfect | Effie | things |  | Effie's eye |  | before, often *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **have** | past | Effie's father |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **seem** | past | Effie's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Effie's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | natural *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  | perhaps *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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