---
title: He had kept his specimen--the one the size of an earwig that he gave… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He had kept his specimen--the one the size of an earwig that he gave Harry half a crown for--and he has it to this day. Who acts: professor, Harry. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 7, sentence 20

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He had kept his specimen--the one the size of an earwig that he gave Harry half a crown for--and he has it to this day.

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**Who acts:** professor, Harry · **What happens:** keep, give, crown, have · **To what, where:** professor, earwig, specimen

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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 (professor, Harry), 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:pg23661:7:20
# text = He had kept his specimen--the one the size of an earwig that he gave Harry half a crown for--and he has it to this day.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|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	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	specimen	specimen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	earwig	earwig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	Harry	Harry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
18	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	20	det:predet	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	crown	crown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
29	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past · perfect · passive |  | professor |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme specimen=Attribute |
| 2 | **give** | past | professor | a earwig *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent earwig=Theme |
| 3 | **crown** |  | Harry |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | present | professor | specimen |  |  | day |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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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