---
title: I only said 'families' because a kid like you wouldn't have understo… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: I only said 'families' because a kid like you wouldn't have understood if I'd said constel ... and, besides, I've forgotten the end of the word. Who acts: I. 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 56

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I only said 'families' because a kid like you wouldn't have understood if I'd said constel ... and, besides, I've forgotten the end of the word.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** say, not understand, forget · **To what, where:** families, kid, end · **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 (I), 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:pg23661:7:56
# text = I only said 'families' because a kid like you wouldn't have understood if I'd said constel ... and, besides, I've forgotten the end of the word.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	kid	kid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nmod	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
15	understood	understand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
20	constel	constel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	ccomp	_	_
21	...	...	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	besides	besides	INTJ	UH	_	28	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	've	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I | families |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **understand** | would · perfect · passive |  | a kid like you |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | would | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **forget** | present · perfect | I | the end of the word |  |  |  |  | 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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