---
title: The large-size dragons were terrible certainly, but when once you ha… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The large-size dragons were terrible certainly, but when once you had found out that the dragons always went to bed early because they were afraid of the chill night air, you had only to stay indoors all day, and you were pretty safe from the big ones. Who acts: size dragons, you, dragons, elephants
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 70

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The large-size dragons were terrible certainly, but when once you had found out that the dragons always went to bed early because they were afraid of the chill night air, you had only to stay indoors all day, and you were pretty safe from the big ones.

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**Who acts:** size dragons, you, dragons, elephants · **What happens:** be, find out, go, have, stay · **To what, where:** bed

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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 (size dragons, you, dragons, elephants), 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:pg23661:5:70
# text = The large-size dragons were terrible certainly, but when once you had found out that the dragons always went to bed early because they were afraid of the chill night air, you had only to stay indoors all day, and you were pretty safe from the big ones.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
12	once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	21	advmod	_	_
21	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
24	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
25	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	advcl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	chill	chill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
37	only	only	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
40	indoors	indoors	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	42	det	_	_
42	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
45	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
46	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
47	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	conj	_	_
49	from	from	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the size dragons |  |  |  |  | certainly, terrible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find out** | past · perfect | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **go** | past | the dragons |  |  | bed |  | always, early *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to bed=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **is** | past | elephants *= elephant* |  |  |  |  | of the night air; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **stay** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  | day | indoors *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | you |  |  |  |  | from the big ones; pretty, safe *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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