--- title: When they are not thinking about you they say, "I fear the moths hav… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: When they are not thinking about you they say, "I fear the moths have got at my ermine tippet," or, "Your poor Aunt Emma had a lovely sable cloak, but it was eaten by moths." Who acts: people, moths. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/11/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Book of Dragons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/) / [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/) / 11 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 11 When they are not thinking about you they say, "I fear the moths have got at my ermine tippet," or, "Your poor Aunt Emma had a lovely sable cloak, but it was eaten by moths." **Who acts:** people, moths · **What happens:** not be, say, fear, get, eat · **To what, where:** ermine tippet, cloak · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (people, moths), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg23661:9:11 # text = When they are not thinking about you they say, "I fear the moths have got at my ermine tippet," or, "Your poor Aunt Emma had a lovely sable cloak, but it was eaten by moths." 1 When when SCONJ WRB _ 5 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 thinking think VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 advcl _ _ 6 about about ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 5 obl _ _ 8 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 11 " " PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 fear fear VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 9 ccomp _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 moths moth NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nsubj _ _ 16 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 13 ccomp _ _ 18 at at ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 19 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 20 ermine ermine NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ _ 21 tippet tippet NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 24 or or CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 26 " " PUNCT `` _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 27 Your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 28 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 29 Aunt Aunt PROPN NNP Number=Sing 30 compound _ _ 30 Emma Emma PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 31 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 33 lovely lovely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 34 sable sable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 cloak cloak NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 but but CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux:pass _ _ 40 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 41 by by ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 moths moth NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obl:agent _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 " " PUNCT '' _ 40 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is** | present | people | | | | | about you; think *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | people | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **fear** *in a quote* | present | people | | | | | | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **get** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the moths | | | my ermine tippet | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **eat** *in a quote* | past · passive | moths | cloak | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/10/) - next →: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/12/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/)