---
title: The first thing was, of course, to bring the dragon out, and the nex… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing was, of course, to bring the dragon out, and the next to make him breathe water instead of fire. Who acts: first thing, dragon. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 23, sentence 27

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The first thing was, of course, to bring the dragon out, and the next to make him breathe water instead of fire.

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**Who acts:** first thing, dragon · **What happens:** be, make, breathe · **To what, where:** dragon, water

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first thing, dragon), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:23:27
# text = The first thing was, of course, to bring the dragon out, and the next to make him breathe water instead of fire.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:outer	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	csubj	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
23	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	25	case	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	fixed	_	_
25	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | the dragon *obj*; bring *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | dragon |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **breathe** | infinitive | dragon *not said here* | water |  |  |  | instead fire | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |

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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 Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (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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