---
title: "They aren't that sort of families at all, Silly," said her brother,… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "They aren't that sort of families at all, Silly," said her brother, kindly trying to explain. " Who acts: families, sort. 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 55

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"They aren't that sort of families at all, Silly," said her brother, kindly trying to explain. "

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**Who acts:** families, sort · **What happens:** not be, say, try, explain · **To what, where:** sort · **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 (families, sort), 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:pg23661:7:55
# text = "They aren't that sort of families at all, Silly," said her brother, kindly trying to explain. "
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	Silly	Silly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	explain	explain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
24	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | families *= family* | that sort and Silly |  |  |  | of families at all | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | that sort and Silly |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **try** | gerund | that sort and Silly *not said here* |  |  |  |  | kindly *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **explain** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | that sort and Silly *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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