---
title: The tap was very stiff from not having been used for such a long tim… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The tap was very stiff from not having been used for such a long time, but together they managed to turn it on, and then ran to the mirror to see what happened. Who acts: tap, taps. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/6/118/)

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 6, sentence 118

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The tap was very stiff from not having been used for such a long time, but together they managed to turn it on, and then ran to the mirror to see what happened.

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**Who acts:** tap, taps · **What happens:** be, not use, manage, turn on, run, see · **To what, where:** Rain, mirror · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tap, taps), 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:pg23661:6:118
# text = The tap was very stiff from not having been used for such a long time, but together they managed to turn it on, and then ran to the mirror to see what happened.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tap	tap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
8	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	aux	_	_
9	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	15	det:predet	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	together	together	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
28	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	advcl	_	_
34	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	35	nsubj	_	_
35	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the tap |  |  |  |  | stiff *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **use** | gerund · perfect · passive | the tap *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V» |
| 3 | **manage** | past | taps *= tap* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **turn on** | to-infinitive | taps *= tap* *not said here* | Rain |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 5 | **run** | past |  |  |  | the mirror | then |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to mirror=Destination |
| 6 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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