---
title: I wonder if the star families are nice families--the kind that Mothe… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: I wonder if the star families are nice families--the kind that Mother would like us to go to tea with, if we were little stars?" Who acts: I, star families, we. 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 54

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I wonder if the star families are nice families--the kind that Mother would like us to go to tea with, if we were little stars?"

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**Who acts:** I, star families, we · **What happens:** wonder, be, like, go · **To what, where:** nice families, kind, tea, little stars

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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 (I, star families, we), 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:pg23661:7:54
# text = I wonder if the star families are nice families--the kind that Mother would like us to go to tea with, if we were little stars?"
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wonder	wonder	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obj	_	_
14	Mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	dislocated	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl:relcl	_	_
17	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | the star families | nice families |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **like** | would |  | the kind |  |  |  | Mother *dislocated* | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | tea |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to tea=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | we | little stars |  |  |  |  | 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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