---
title: Their bodies were covered with glittering scales; their curly tails… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Their bodies were covered with glittering scales; their curly tails extended far over the land; flames darted from their mouths and noses, and their eyes would have made the bravest shudder; but as the Prince was invisible and they did not see him, he slipped past them into the wood. Who acts: flame
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/16/95/)

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 3, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their bodies were covered with glittering scales; their curly tails extended far over the land; flames darted from their mouths and noses, and their eyes would have made the bravest shudder; but as the Prince was invisible and they did not see him, he slipped past them into the wood.

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**Who acts:** flames, dragons, gate · **What happens:** cover, extend, dart, make, be, not see · **To what, where:** bodies, curly tails, land, mouths, eyes, gate

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (flames, dragons, gate), 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:pg640:16:95
# text = Their bodies were covered with glittering scales; their curly tails extended far over the land; flames darted from their mouths and noses, and their eyes would have made the bravest shudder; but as the Prince was invisible and they did not see him, he slipped past them into the wood.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	glittering	glittering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	curly	curly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
12	extended	extend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
14	over	over	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
18	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	darted	dart	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	mouths	mouth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	noses	nose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux	_	_
31	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	bravest	brave	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	34	amod	_	_
34	shudder	shudder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
36	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
37	as	as	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
41	invisible	invisible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	conj	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
51	past	past	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	_
53	into	into	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past · passive |  | dragons's bodies |  |  |  | with glittering scales | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with scale=Theme |
| 2 | **extend** | participle |  | dragons's curly tails *not said here* |  | the land |  | far *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent over land=Path |
| 3 | **dart** | past | flames |  |  | dragons's mouths and noses |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from mouth=Trajectory |
| 4 | **make** | would · perfect · passive |  | dragons's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary shudder=Product |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as the Prince; invisible *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **see** | past · do-support | dragons *= dragon* | gate |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 7 | **slip** | past | gate |  |  | the wood |  | past dragons *= dragon* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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