---
title: The ones this size did not eat people, only lettuce, but they always… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The ones this size did not eat people, only lettuce, but they always scorched the sheets and pillowcases dreadfully. Who acts: ones, people. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 76

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The ones this size did not eat people, only lettuce, but they always scorched the sheets and pillowcases dreadfully.

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**Who acts:** ones, people · **What happens:** not eat, scorch · **To what, where:** people, sheets

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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 (ones, people), 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:pg23661:5:76
# text = The ones this size did not eat people, only lettuce, but they always scorched the sheets and pillowcases dreadfully.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod:unmarked	_	_
5	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	lettuce	lettuce	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	16	advmod	_	_
16	scorched	scorch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	sheets	sheet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	pillowcases	pillowcase	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	_
21	dreadfully	dreadfully	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **eat** | past · do-support | the ones  this size | people |  |  |  | lettuce *obl* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |
| 2 | **scorch** | past | people | the sheets and pillowcases |  |  |  | always, dreadfully *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent sheet=Patient |

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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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