---
title: The little, sharp, many-colored flames sprang up like the stalks of… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The little, sharp, many-colored flames sprang up like the stalks of dream lilies, but no heat came to the children, and they grew colder and colder. Who acts: sharp colored flames, heat, flames. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 8, sentence 110

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The little, sharp, many-colored flames sprang up like the stalks of dream lilies, but no heat came to the children, and they grew colder and colder.

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**Who acts:** sharp colored flames, heat, flames · **What happens:** color, sprang up, come, grow

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sharp colored flames, heat, flames), 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:pg23661:8:110
# text = The little, sharp, many-colored flames sprang up like the stalks of dream lilies, but no heat came to the children, and they grew colder and colder.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	colored	color	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	sprang	sprang	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	like	like	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	stalks	stalk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	lilies	lily	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	21	det	_	_
21	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
30	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	xcomp	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **color** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn coloring-24 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **sprang up** | present | the sharp colored flames |  |  |  |  | like the stalks of dream lilies | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | past | no heat |  |  |  |  | to the children | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to child=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **grow** | past | flames *= flame* |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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