--- title: The moths ate and ate and ate till the sealskin dwarfs, being sealsk… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics description: The moths ate and ate and ate till the sealskin dwarfs, being sealskin throughout, even to the empty hearts of them, were eaten down to the very life--and they fell one by one on the snow and so came to their end. Who acts: moths, dwarfs. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, pa --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/15/) [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/) / 15 # The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 15 The moths ate and ate and ate till the sealskin dwarfs, being sealskin throughout, even to the empty hearts of them, were eaten down to the very life--and they fell one by one on the snow and so came to their end. **Who acts:** moths, dwarfs · **What happens:** eat, be, eat down, fall, come · **To what, where:** sealskin, one, end 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 (moths, dwarfs), 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:pg23661:9:15 # text = The moths ate and ate and ate till the sealskin dwarfs, being sealskin throughout, even to the empty hearts of them, were eaten down to the very life--and they fell one by one on the snow and so came to their end. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 moths moth NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 ate eat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 5 ate eat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 ate eat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 8 till till ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 sealskin sealskin NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 compound _ _ 11 dwarfs dwarf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 cop _ _ 14 sealskin sealskin NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 parataxis _ _ 15 throughout throughout ADP IN _ 21 case _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 17 even even ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 18 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 empty empty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 hearts heart NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux:pass _ _ 26 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 27 down down ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ _ 28 to to ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 very very ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 -- -- PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 36 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 35 obj _ _ 37 by by ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 36 nmod _ _ 39 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 43 so so ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 44 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 conj _ _ 45 to to ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **eat** | past | the moths | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **eat** | past | the moths *not said here* | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **eat** | past | the moths *not said here* | | | | till the sealskin dwarfs | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is a** | gerund | | sealskin | | | throughout the empty hearts of dwarfs | | tree rules | | 5 | **eat down** | past · passive | the moths *not said here* | | | | | to the life | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V» | | 6 | **fall** | past | dwarfs *= dwarf* | one | | | | by one on the snow | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient one=Result | | 7 | **come** | past | dwarfs *= dwarf* *not said here* | | | | to dwarfs's end | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to end=Initial\_Location | 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 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/14/) - next →: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/16/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/9/)