---
title: Just then came a new, strange, jerky fluttering of wings far softer… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Just then came a new, strange, jerky fluttering of wings far softer than the grouse's, and George and Jane cried out together: "Oh, _do_ mind your wings in the fires!" Who acts: new strange jerky fluttering, George, wings. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9, with its d
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Just then came a new, strange, jerky fluttering of wings far softer than the grouse's, and George and Jane cried out together: "Oh, \_do\_ mind your wings in the fires!"

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**Who acts:** new strange jerky fluttering, George, wings · **What happens:** come, cry out, mind, flutter · **To what, where:** wings, fires · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (new strange jerky fluttering, George, wings), 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:pg23661:9:1
# text = Just then came a new, strange, jerky fluttering of wings far softer than the grouse's, and George and Jane cried out together: "Oh, _do_ mind your wings in the fires!"
1	Just	just	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
5	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	jerky	jerky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	fluttering	fluttering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
14	softer	soft	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	amod	_	_
15	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	grouse	grouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	's	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	George	George	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	Jane	Jane	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	_
24	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	together	together	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
28	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	32	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	_	_	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	32	discourse	_	_
34	mind	mind	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
35	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a new strange jerky fluttering of wings |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cry out** *speech: express* | past | George and Jane |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mind** *in a quote* | present · do-support |  | your wings |  | the fires |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Theme |
| 4 | **flutter** |  | wings |  |  |  |  |  | nom fluttering «event intransitive»: of=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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