---
title: The sportsman said nothing, only he shook his fist at Jane, and then… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The sportsman said nothing, only he shook his fist at Jane, and then he got on the slide and tried to go toward the Crystal Palace--which was not easy, because that way is uphill. Who acts: sportsman, way. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 7, sentence 129

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The sportsman said nothing, only he shook his fist at Jane, and then he got on the slide and tried to go toward the Crystal Palace--which was not easy, because that way is uphill.

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**Who acts:** sportsman, way · **What happens:** say, shake, get, try, go, not be · **To what, where:** nothing, fist, Jane, slide, Crystal Palace · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sportsman, way), 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:pg23661:7:129
# text = The sportsman said nothing, only he shook his fist at Jane, and then he got on the slide and tried to go toward the Crystal Palace--which was not easy, because that way is uphill.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sportsman	sportsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	fist	fist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Jane	Jane	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	slide	slide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	Crystal	Crystal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	Palace	Palace	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	det	_	_
37	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	uphill	uphill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the sportsman | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 2 | **shake** | past | sportsman | sportsman's fist |  | Jane |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent fist=Theme at jane=Trajectory |
| 3 | **get** | past | sportsman |  |  | the slide | then |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on slide=Source |
| 4 | **try** | past | sportsman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | sportsman *not said here* |  |  | the Crystal Palace |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme toward palace=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | present | that way |  |  |  |  | uphill *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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