---
title: Then George said: "Way or no way, I know a slide when I see one--so… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Then George said: "Way or no way, I know a slide when I see one--so here goes." Who acts: George. 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 97

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Then George said: "Way or no way, I know a slide when I see one--so here goes."

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**Who acts:** George · **What happens:** say, know, see, go · **To what, where:** slide, one · **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 (George), 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:pg23661:7:97
# text = Then George said: "Way or no way, I know a slide when I see one--so here goes."
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	George	George	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Way	Way	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	slide	slide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
22	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | George |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **know** *in a quote* | present | George | a slide |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer slide=Stimulus |
| 3 | **see** *in a quote* | present | George | one |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus |
| 4 | **go** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  | here |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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