--- title: He was just getting ready to drop it on the floor, and end its life… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: He was just getting ready to drop it on the floor, and end its life in the usual way, when it shook itself in the spoon--spread two wet wings, and flopped onto the tablecloth. Who acts: brother, earwig. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and t --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/47/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Book of Dragons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/) / [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/) / 47 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 47 He was just getting ready to drop it on the floor, and end its life in the usual way, when it shook itself in the spoon--spread two wet wings, and flopped onto the tablecloth. **Who acts:** brother, earwig · **What happens:** get, drop, end, shake, spread, flop · **To what, where:** earwig, floor, life, usual way, spoon, two wet wings 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 (brother, earwig), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg23661:5:47 # text = He was just getting ready to drop it on the floor, and end its life in the usual way, when it shook itself in the spoon--spread two wet wings, and flopped onto the tablecloth. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 just just ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 getting get VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 ready ready ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 xcomp _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 drop drop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 xcomp _ _ 8 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 obj _ _ 9 on on ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 floor floor NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 end end VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 15 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 usual usual ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 when when SCONJ WRB _ 24 mark _ _ 23 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 shook shake VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 25 itself itself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 24 obj _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 spoon spoon NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 -- -- PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 spread spread VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 31 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 nummod _ _ 32 wet wet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 flopped flop VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 37 onto onto ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 tablecloth tablecloth NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **get** | past · progressive | brother | | | | | ready *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **drop** | to-infinitive | brother *not said here* | earwig | | the floor | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme on floor=Destination | | 3 | **end** | infinitive | | earwig's life | | the usual way | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality life=Eventuality | | 4 | **shake** | past | earwig | earwig | | the spoon | | | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent itself=Theme in spoon=Trajectory | | 5 | **spread** | past | earwig *not said here* | two wet wings | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme | | 6 | **flop** | past | earwig *not said here* | | | the tablecloth | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/46/) - next →: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/48/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/)