---
title: He flew off very crookedly, dodging the flames, and presently he cam… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He flew off very crookedly, dodging the flames, and presently he came back, and there were so many moths with him that it was as if a live sheet of white wingedness were suddenly drawn between the children and the stars. Who acts: moth, many moths. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, O
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 7

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He flew off very crookedly, dodging the flames, and presently he came back, and there were so many moths with him that it was as if a live sheet of white wingedness were suddenly drawn between the children and the stars.

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**Who acts:** moth, many moths · **What happens:** fly off, dodge, come back, be, draw · **To what, where:** flames, Sealskin

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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 (moth, many moths), 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:pg23661:9:7
# text = He flew off very crookedly, dodging the flames, and presently he came back, and there were so many moths with him that it was as if a live sheet of white wingedness were suddenly drawn between the children and the stars.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	off	off	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	crookedly	crookedly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	dodging	dodge	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
19	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	moths	moth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	live	live	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	sheet	sheet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	wingedness	wingedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
37	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl	_	_
39	between	between	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly off** | past | moth |  |  |  |  | crookedly *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **dodge** | gerund | moth *not said here* | the flames |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent flame=Location |
| 3 | **come back** | past | moth |  |  |  |  | presently *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **be** | past | many moths with Jane |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **draw** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive | many moths with Jane *not said here* | Sealskin |  |  |  | between the children and the stars; suddenly *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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