---
title: When the dragons flew against these towers, they stuck fast, as flie… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: When the dragons flew against these towers, they stuck fast, as flies and wasps do on the sticky papers in the kitchen; and when the towers were covered all over with dragons, the police inspector used to set fire to the towers, and burnt them and dragons and all. Who acts: dragons, towers, flies, p
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 84

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the dragons flew against these towers, they stuck fast, as flies and wasps do on the sticky papers in the kitchen; and when the towers were covered all over with dragons, the police inspector used to set fire to the towers, and burnt them and dragons and all.

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**Who acts:** dragons, towers, flies, police inspector · **What happens:** fly, stick, do, cover, use, set · **To what, where:** towers, sticky papers, fire

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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 (dragons, towers, flies, police inspector), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg23661:5:84
# text = When the dragons flew against these towers, they stuck fast, as flies and wasps do on the sticky papers in the kitchen; and when the towers were covered all over with dragons, the police inspector used to set fire to the towers, and burnt them and dragons and all.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
5	against	against	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	stuck	stick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	wasps	wasp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	sticky	sticky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	papers	paper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	31	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
32	all	all	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	over	over	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	compound	_	_
39	inspector	inspector	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
40	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
43	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	parataxis	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	conj	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	52	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | the dragons |  |  | this towers |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent against tower=Location |
| 2 | **stick** | past | towers *= tower* |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **do** | present | flies and wasps |  |  | the sticky papers in the kitchen |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **cover** | past · passive |  | the towers |  |  |  | with dragons; over *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with dragon=Theme |
| 5 | **use** | past | the police inspector |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **set** | to-infinitive | the police inspector *not said here* | fire |  |  |  | to the towers | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient fire=Result |
| 7 | **burnt** | past |  | towers *= tower* |  |  |  |  | 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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