---
title: It had cost only sixpence to begin with, and she had had it a month,… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: It had cost only sixpence to begin with, and she had had it a month, and it never could sharpen anything but slate-pencils; but somehow she managed to make that knife cut her sash in front, and crept out of it, leaving the dragon with only a green silk bow in one of his claws. Who acts: Effie, knife
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 6, sentence 72

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It had cost only sixpence to begin with, and she had had it a month, and it never could sharpen anything but slate-pencils; but somehow she managed to make that knife cut her sash in front, and crept out of it, leaving the dragon with only a green silk bow in one of his claws.

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**Who acts:** Effie, knife · **What happens:** cost, begin, have, not sharpen, manage, make · **To what, where:** knife, anything, sash, front, dragon

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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 (Effie, knife), 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:pg23661:6:72
# text = It had cost only sixpence to begin with, and she had had it a month, and it never could sharpen anything but slate-pencils; but somehow she managed to make that knife cut her sash in front, and crept out of it, leaving the dragon with only a green silk bow in one of his claws.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	cost	cost	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	sixpence	sixpence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	sharpen	sharpen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
23	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	obj	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	slate	slate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	pencils	pencil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	det	_	_
36	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
37	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	ccomp	_	_
38	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	sash	sash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	parataxis	_	_
45	out	out	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	44	advcl	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
53	only	only	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
55	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
56	silk	silk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	_
57	bow	bow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	57	nmod	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cost** | past · perfect · passive |  | knife |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary sixpence=Value |
| 2 | **begin** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **have** | past · perfect | Effie | knife |  |  | month |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **sharpen** | could | knife | anything |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent anything=Patient |
| 5 | **manage** | past | Effie |  |  |  |  | somehow *property* | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | Effie *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **cut** | past | that knife | Effie's sash |  | front |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material sash=Product |
| 8 | **creep out** | past |  | knife |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location it=Theme |
| 9 | **leave** | gerund |  |  | the dragon |  |  | with a green silk bow in one of Harry's claws | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: agent=Agent dragon=Recipient with bow=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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