--- title: They breathed fire and smoke, as all proper dragons must, but still… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: They breathed fire and smoke, as all proper dragons must, but still the newspapers went on pretending they were lizards, until the editor of the _Standard_ was picked up and carried away by a very large one, and then the other newspaper people had not anyone left to tell them what they ought not to --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/65/) [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/) / 65 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 65 They breathed fire and smoke, as all proper dragons must, but still the newspapers went on pretending they were lizards, until the editor of the \_Standard\_ was picked up and carried away by a very large one, and then the other newspaper people had not anyone left to tell them what they ought not to believe. **Who acts:** sizes, newspapers, other newspaper people · **What happens:** breathe, go, pretend, be, pick up, carry away · **To what, where:** fire, lizards, editor, anyone, sizes · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (sizes, newspapers, other newspaper people), 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:pg23661:5:65 # text = They breathed fire and smoke, as all proper dragons must, but still the newspapers went on pretending they were lizards, until the editor of the _Standard_ was picked up and carried away by a very large one, and then the other newspaper people had not anyone left to tell them what they ought not to believe. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 breathed breathe VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 5 smoke smoke NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 7 as as SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 8 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 10 det _ _ 9 proper proper ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 dragons dragon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 nsubj _ _ 11 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 13 but but CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 14 still still ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 newspapers newspaper NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nsubj _ _ 17 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 18 on on SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 19 pretending pretend VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 20 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 22 lizards lizard NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 24 until until SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 editor editor NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj:pass _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 29 _ _ PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 30 Standard Standard PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 _ _ PROPN NNP Number=Sing 26 nmod _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux:pass _ _ 33 picked pick VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 parataxis _ _ 34 up up ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 carried carry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 conj _ _ 37 away away ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 38 by by ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 40 very very ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 41 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 45 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 50 advmod _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 47 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 48 newspaper newspaper NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 compound _ _ 49 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 50 nsubj _ _ 50 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 51 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 52 advmod _ _ 52 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 50 obj _ _ 53 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 52 acl _ _ 54 to to PART TO _ 55 mark _ _ 55 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 53 advcl _ _ 56 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 55 iobj _ _ 57 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 62 obj _ _ 58 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 62 nsubj _ _ 59 ought ought AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 62 aux _ _ 60 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 62 advmod _ _ 61 to to PART TO _ 62 mark _ _ 62 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 55 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 63 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **breathe** | past | sizes *= size* | fire and smoke | | | | | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Theme | | 2 | **go** | past | the newspapers | | | | still | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **pretend** | gerund | the newspapers *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **is a** | past | sizes *= size* | lizards | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **pick up** | past · passive | | the editor of the \_ Standard \_ | | | | | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic | | 6 | **carry away** | participle | | | | | | by a large one; away *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **have** | past | the other newspaper people | anyone | | | then | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anyone=Patient | | 8 | **leave** | participle | | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | | | sizes *= size* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 10 | **not** **believe** *not said to happen* | ought | sizes *= size* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus | 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 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/64/) - next →: [sentence 66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/66/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/)