---
title: You knew well enough it was a boy I wanted--a boy, an heir, a Prince… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: You knew well enough it was a boy I wanted--a boy, an heir, a Prince--to learn all my magic and my enchantments, and to rule the kingdom after me. Who acts: You, expense, I, my. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/127/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 127

# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 127

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You knew well enough it was a boy I wanted--a boy, an heir, a Prince--to learn all my magic and my enchantments, and to rule the kingdom after me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** You, expense, I, my · **What happens:** know, be, want, learn, rule, enchant · **To what, where:** boy, magic, kingdom · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (You, expense, I, my), 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:pg23661:9:127
# text = You knew well enough it was a boy I wanted--a boy, an heir, a Prince--to learn all my magic and my enchantments, and to rule the kingdom after me.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
4	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	heir	heir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
23	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	25	det:predet	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	enchantments	enchantment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	rule	rule	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	after	after	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | You |  |  |  |  | enough, well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past | expense | a boy |  |  |  | a boy and a heir *nmod*; a Prince *nmod* | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | past | I | a boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot boy=Theme |
| 4 | **learn** | to-infinitive | You *not said here* | my magic and my enchantments |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent magic=Topic |
| 5 | **rule** | to-infinitive | You *not said here* | the kingdom |  |  | after me |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kingdom=Theme |
| 6 | **enchant** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom enchantment «feeling transitive»: poss=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/126/)
- next →: [sentence 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/128/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/)