---
title: Now, if you are of an inquiring mind--not at all a nice thing in a l… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, if you are of an inquiring mind--not at all a nice thing in a little child who reads fairy tales--you will want to know how it is that since the sealskin dwarfs have all been killed, and the fires all been let out, the Aurora Borealis shines, on cold nights, as brightly as ever. Who acts: you, 
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 51

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Now, if you are of an inquiring mind--not at all a nice thing in a little child who reads fairy tales--you will want to know how it is that since the sealskin dwarfs have all been killed, and the fires all been let out, the Aurora Borealis shines, on cold nights, as brightly as ever.

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**Who acts:** you, little child, fairy tales, Aurora Borealis · **What happens:** inquire, be, read, want, know, let out · **To what, where:** fairy tales, mind, fires

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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 (you, little child, fairy tales, Aurora Borealis), 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:pg23661:9:51
# text = Now, if you are of an inquiring mind--not at all a nice thing in a little child who reads fairy tales--you will want to know how it is that since the sealskin dwarfs have all been killed, and the fires all been let out, the Aurora Borealis shines, on cold nights, as brightly as ever.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	inquiring	inquire	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	amod	_	_
9	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	det	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	reads	read	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
23	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
35	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	sealskin	sealskin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	dwarfs	dwarf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
40	all	all	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
41	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	aux:pass	_	_
42	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	fires	fire	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
47	all	all	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
48	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	let	let	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	advcl	_	_
50	out	out	ADP	RP	_	49	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	Aurora	Aurora	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	compound	_	_
54	Borealis	Borealis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
55	shines	shine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
57	on	on	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
61	as	as	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
62	brightly	brightly	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
63	as	as	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
64	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inquire** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | you |  |  |  |  | of a inquiring mind | tree rules |
| 3 | **read** | present | a little child | fairy tales |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Topic |
| 4 | **want** | future | you | fairy tales *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | fairy tales *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **is** | present · perfect · passive |  | mind |  |  |  | all, kill *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **let out** | participle · passive |  | the fires |  |  |  | all *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 8 | **shine** | present | the Aurora Borealis |  |  |  | night | brightly *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=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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