---
title: At first there were only a few, but in a week or two the country was… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: At first there were only a few, but in a week or two the country was simply running alive with dragons of all sizes, and in the air you could sometimes see them as thick as a swarm of bees. Who acts: country, you. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 62

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At first there were only a few, but in a week or two the country was simply running alive with dragons of all sizes, and in the air you could sometimes see them as thick as a swarm of bees.

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**Who acts:** country, you · **What happens:** be, run, see · **To what, where:** sizes, air

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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 (country, you), 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:pg23661:5:62
# text = At first there were only a few, but in a week or two the country was simply running alive with dragons of all sizes, and in the air you could sometimes see them as thick as a swarm of bees.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	obl	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	conj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
20	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	det	_	_
25	sizes	size	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
31	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	34	advmod	_	_
34	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	as	as	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	swarm	swarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | few *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | past · progressive | the country |  |  |  | week | with dragons of all sizes; alive, simply *property* | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent with dragon=Material |
| 3 | **see** | could | you | sizes *= size* |  | the air |  | sometimes, thick *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=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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