---
title: The dragon swooped down and caught the two children in his claws; he… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The dragon swooped down and caught the two children in his claws; he caught Effie by her green silk sash, and Harry by the little point at the back of his Eton jacket--and then, spreading his great yellow wings, he rose into the air, rattling like a third-class carriage when the brake is hard on. Wh
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 6, sentence 57

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The dragon swooped down and caught the two children in his claws; he caught Effie by her green silk sash, and Harry by the little point at the back of his Eton jacket--and then, spreading his great yellow wings, he rose into the air, rattling like a third-class carriage when the brake is hard on.

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**Who acts:** dragon, Harry, brake · **What happens:** swoop down, catch, spread, rise, rattle, be · **To what, where:** two children, claws, Effie, great yellow wings, air

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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 (dragon, Harry, brake), 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:pg23661:6:57
# text = The dragon swooped down and caught the two children in his claws; he caught Effie by her green silk sash, and Harry by the little point at the back of his Eton jacket--and then, spreading his great yellow wings, he rose into the air, rattling like a third-class carriage when the brake is hard on.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	swooped	swoop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
16	Effie	Effie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
19	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	sash	sash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	Harry	Harry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	Eton	Eton	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	jacket	jacket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	spreading	spread	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
42	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
43	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
48	into	into	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	rattling	rattle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	advcl	_	_
53	like	like	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
55	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	57	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	compound	_	_
58	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
59	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	63	advmod	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	brake	brake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nsubj	_	_
62	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	63	cop	_	_
63	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	parataxis	_	_
64	on	on	ADP	RP	_	63	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swoop down** | past | the dragon |  |  |  |  | down *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **catch** | past | the dragon *not said here* | the two children |  | Harry's claws |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme |
| 3 | **catch** | past | Harry | Effie |  |  |  | by Effie's green silk sash; by the little point at the back of Harry's Eton jacket; Harry *obl* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effie=Theme |
| 4 | **spread** | gerund | Harry *not said here* | Harry's great yellow wings |  |  | then |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme |
| 5 | **rise** | past | Harry |  |  | the air |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into air=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **rattle** | gerund | Harry *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like a class carriage | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | present | the brake |  |  |  |  | hard *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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