--- title: But the dragon held on tight, and he flew and flew and flew until at… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: But the dragon held on tight, and he flew and flew and flew until at last, when the children were quite giddy, he settled down, with a rattling of all his scales, on the top of a mountain. Who acts: dragon, Harry, children, scales. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 6, w --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/6/68/) [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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/6/) / 68 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 6, sentence 68 But the dragon held on tight, and he flew and flew and flew until at last, when the children were quite giddy, he settled down, with a rattling of all his scales, on the top of a mountain. **Who acts:** dragon, Harry, children, scales · **What happens:** hold, fly, be, settle down, rattle · **To what, where:** tight, top 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, children, scales), 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:pg23661:6:68 # text = But the dragon held on tight, and he flew and flew and flew until at last, when the children were quite giddy, he settled down, with a rattling of all his scales, on the top of a mountain. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 held hold VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 on on ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 tight tight ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 9 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 15 until until ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 at at ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 19 when when SCONJ WRB _ 24 mark _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 nsubj _ _ 22 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 quite quite ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 giddy giddy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 settled settle VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 28 down down ADP RP _ 27 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 with with ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 rattling rattling NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 34 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 36 det:predet _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 scales scale NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 on on ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 mountain mountain NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hold** | participle | the dragon | | | tight | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on tight=Location | | 2 | **fly** | past | Harry | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **fly** | past | Harry *not said here* | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **fly** | past | Harry *not said here* | | | | until last | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **is** | past | the children | | | | | giddy *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **settle down** | past | Harry | | | the top of a mountain | | with a rattling of Harry's scales | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient | | 7 | **rattle** | | Harry's scales | | | | | | nom rattling «event intransitive»: of=agent | 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 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/6/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/6/69/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/6/)