--- title: And besides, it would have been a mere waste of Princesses to offer… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: And besides, it would have been a mere waste of Princesses to offer rewards for killing dragons, because everybody killed as many dragons as they could quite out of their own heads and without rewards at all, just to get the nasty things out of the way. Who acts: family, mere waste. A sentence of «T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/79/) [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/) / 79 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 79 And besides, it would have been a mere waste of Princesses to offer rewards for killing dragons, because everybody killed as many dragons as they could quite out of their own heads and without rewards at all, just to get the nasty things out of the way. **Who acts:** family, mere waste · **What happens:** be, offer, kill, get · **To what, where:** mere waste, rewards, dragons, many dragons, all, nasty things 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 (family, mere waste), 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:pg23661:5:79 # text = And besides, it would have been a mere waste of Princesses to offer rewards for killing dragons, because everybody killed as many dragons as they could quite out of their own heads and without rewards at all, just to get the nasty things out of the way. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 2 besides besides INTJ UH _ 10 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 5 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 6 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 10 aux _ _ 7 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 10 cop _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 mere mere ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 waste waste NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 Princesses princess NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nmod _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 offer offer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 acl _ _ 15 rewards reward NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ _ 16 for for SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 17 killing kill VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 18 dragons dragon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 because because SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 21 everybody everybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 22 nsubj _ _ 22 killed kill VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 23 as as ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 dragons dragon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obj _ _ 26 as as ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 27 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 28 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 29 quite quite ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 30 out out ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 32 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 33 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obl _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 without without ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 rewards reward NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 conj _ _ 38 at at ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 just just ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 get get VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 nasty nasty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 obj _ _ 47 out out ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 22 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | would · perfect | family | a mere waste | | | | of Princesses | tree rules | | 2 | **offer** | to-infinitive | family *not said here* | rewards | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent reward=Theme | | 3 | **kill** | gerund | family *not said here* | dragons | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dragon=Theme | | 4 | **kill** | past | a mere waste | many dragons | | all | | as rewards's own heads and rewards | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent dragon=Duration as head=Attribute | | 5 | **get** | to-infinitive | | the nasty things | | the way | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=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 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/78/) - next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/80/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/5/)