---
title: And while George was explaining to the collector that they would rea… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: And while George was explaining to the collector that they would really rather not, Jane opened the blue folds of the butterfly net, and asked the moth quietly if it would please step outside for a moment. Who acts: George, Jane, silence. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, pa
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 8, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And while George was explaining to the collector that they would really rather not, Jane opened the blue folds of the butterfly net, and asked the moth quietly if it would please step outside for a moment.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** George, Jane, silence · **What happens:** explain, open, ask, step · **To what, where:** collector, blue folds, moth

<!-- .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 (George, Jane, silence), 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:pg23661:8:19
# text = And while George was explaining to the collector that they would really rather not, Jane opened the blue folds of the butterfly net, and asked the moth quietly if it would please step outside for a moment.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	George	George	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	explaining	explain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	collector	collector	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
12	really	really	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
16	Jane	Jane	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	folds	fold	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	butterfly	butterfly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	moth	moth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	please	please	INTJ	UH	_	35	discourse	_	_
35	step	step	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
36	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
37	for	for	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | would · past | George |  | the collector |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to collector=Recipient |
| 2 | **open** | past | Jane | the blue folds of the butterfly net |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location fold=Theme |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Jane *not said here* | the moth |  |  |  | quietly *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent moth=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **step** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | silence |  |  |  | moment | outside *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «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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