---
title: Then the collector had to own that he wanted the pin to stick throug… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the collector had to own that he wanted the pin to stick through the great Arctic moth, "a magnificent specimen," he added, "which I am most anxious to preserve." Who acts: collector, pin. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 8, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the collector had to own that he wanted the pin to stick through the great Arctic moth, "a magnificent specimen," he added, "which I am most anxious to preserve."

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**Who acts:** collector, pin · **What happens:** have, own, want, stick, add, be · **To what, where:** pin, great Arctic moth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (collector, pin), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg23661:8:16
# text = Then the collector had to own that he wanted the pin to stick through the great Arctic moth, "a magnificent specimen," he added, "which I am most anxious to preserve."
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	collector	collector	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	own	own	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	stick	stick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
14	through	through	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
17	Arctic	arctic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	moth	moth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	magnificent	magnificent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	specimen	specimen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
31	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	34	advmod	_	_
34	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	parataxis	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	preserve	preserve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the collector |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **own** | to-infinitive | the collector *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | past | collector | the pin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **stick** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the pin *not said here* |  |  | the great Arctic moth and a magnificent specimen |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme through moth=Destination |
| 5 | **add** *speech: assert* | past | collector |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | anxious *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **preserve** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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