---
title: "It's much more like the lampposts on the Thames Embankment," said G… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "It's much more like the lampposts on the Thames Embankment," said George, who had noticed a curly thing like a tail that went twisting up the North Pole. Who acts: lump, lampposts, George, curly thing. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 8, sentence 50

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"It's much more like the lampposts on the Thames Embankment," said George, who had noticed a curly thing like a tail that went twisting up the North Pole.

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**Who acts:** lump, lampposts, George, curly thing · **What happens:** be, say, notice, go, twist up · **To what, where:** Thames Embankment, curly thing, North Pole · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (lump, lampposts, George, curly thing), 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:pg23661:8:50
# text = "It's much more like the lampposts on the Thames Embankment," said George, who had noticed a curly thing like a tail that went twisting up the North Pole.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	lampposts	lamppost	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	Thames	Thames	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	Embankment	embankment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	George	George	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	noticed	notice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	curly	curly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
28	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
29	twisting	twist	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	xcomp	_	_
30	up	up	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	Pole	Pole	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | lump |  |  | the Thames Embankment |  | like the lampposts | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the lampposts |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **notice** | past · perfect | George | a curly thing |  |  |  | like a tail | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |
| 4 | **go** | past | a curly thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **twist up** | gerund | a curly thing *not said here* | the North Pole |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V ADJ.result»: agent=Theme pole=Result |

<!-- .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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