---
title: Some of them even tried to drop a curtsy to her as she went by, thou… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Some of them even tried to drop a curtsy to her as she went by, though that is not easy when you are hanging wrong way up by your tail. Who acts: Some, Queen, that, you. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 119

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Some of them even tried to drop a curtsy to her as she went by, though that is not easy when you are hanging wrong way up by your tail.

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**Who acts:** Some, Queen, that, you · **What happens:** try, drop, go by, not be, hang up · **To what, where:** curtsy, Queen, wrong way

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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 (Some, Queen, that, you), 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:pg23661:9:119
# text = Some of them even tried to drop a curtsy to her as she went by, though that is not easy when you are hanging wrong way up by your tail.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	drop	drop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	curtsy	curtsy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	parataxis	_	_
26	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
28	up	up	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | Some |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **drop** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Some *not said here* | a curtsy | Queen |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent curtsy=Theme to she=Destination |
| 3 | **go by** | past | Queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **hang up** | present · progressive | you | wrong way |  |  |  | by your tail | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by tail=Location |

<!-- .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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