---
title: The sound of the cracking was the only thing that broke the great wh… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: The sound of the cracking was the only thing that broke the great white silence in the midst of which the dragon lay like an enormous jewel, and the straight flames went up all around him like the stalks of tall lilies. Who acts: sound, only thing, dragon, straight flames. A sentence of «The Book of
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 8, sentence 59

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The sound of the cracking was the only thing that broke the great white silence in the midst of which the dragon lay like an enormous jewel, and the straight flames went up all around him like the stalks of tall lilies.

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**Who acts:** sound, only thing, dragon, straight flames · **What happens:** be, break, lay, go up · **To what, where:** only thing, great white silence, midst

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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 (sound, only thing, dragon, straight 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:pg23661:8:59
# text = The sound of the cracking was the only thing that broke the great white silence in the midst of which the dragon lay like an enormous jewel, and the straight flames went up all around him like the stalks of tall lilies.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cracking	cracking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	jewel	jewel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	straight	straight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
33	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
34	up	up	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	all	all	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
36	around	around	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	_
38	like	like	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	stalks	stalk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	lilies	lily	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the sound of the cracking | the only thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | past | the only thing | the great white silence |  | the midst |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer silence=Patient |
| 3 | **lay** | present | the dragon |  |  |  |  | of the midst; like a enormous jewel | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **go up** | past | the straight flames |  |  |  |  | around dragon; like the stalks of tall lilies | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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