---
title: He was cutting his first tooth, and that is a very anxious time for… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He was cutting his first tooth, and that is a very anxious time for any person--even for a Royal one. Who acts: Guy, that. 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 28

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He was cutting his first tooth, and that is a very anxious time for any person--even for a Royal one.

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**Who acts:** Guy, that · **What happens:** cut, be · **To what, where:** first tooth, anxious time

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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 (Guy, that), 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:pg23661:7:28
# text = He was cutting his first tooth, and that is a very anxious time for any person--even for a Royal one.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	amod	_	_
6	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	even	even	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	Royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | past · progressive | Guy | Guy's first tooth |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Product |
| 2 | **is a** | present | that | a anxious time |  |  |  | for any person | tree rules |

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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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