---
title: The papers would not call them dragons, because, of course, no one b… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The papers would not call them dragons, because, of course, no one believes in dragons nowadays--and at any rate the papers were not going to be so silly as to believe in fairy stories. Who acts: papers, one. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The papers would not call them dragons, because, of course, no one believes in dragons nowadays--and at any rate the papers were not going to be so silly as to believe in fairy stories.

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**Who acts:** papers, one · **What happens:** not call, believe, not go, be · **To what, where:** lizard, rate, fairy stories · **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 (papers, one), 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:pg23661:5:61
# text = The papers would not call them dragons, because, of course, no one believes in dragons nowadays--and at any rate the papers were not going to be so silly as to believe in fairy stories.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	papers	paper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
9	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	conj	_	_
12	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
15	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	believes	believe	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
19	nowadays	nowadays	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	papers	paper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
32	so	so	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	ccomp	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **call** *speech: assert* | would | the papers | lizard |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme dragon=Result |
| 2 | **believe** | present | no one |  |  |  |  | in dragons; nowadays *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **not** **go** | past · progressive | the papers |  |  | any rate |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at rate=Location |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | the papers *not said here* |  |  |  |  | silly *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **believe** | to-infinitive | the papers *not said here* |  |  | fairy stories |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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