The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers], sentence 264
Then the dragon begged them to fasten him up at once, and they did so: with the collar and chains that were made years ago--in the days when men sang over their work and made it strong enough to bear any strain.
Who acts: dragon, basins, men · What happens: beg, fasten up, do, make, sing, bear · To what, where: basins, Dragon, collar, work, pet, strain
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Dragon Tamers]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dragon, basins, men), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 begged | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 dragon | det |
| 3 | dragon | dragon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 begged | nsubj |
| 4 | begged | beg | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 begged | obj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 fasten | mark |
| 7 | fasten | fasten | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 begged | xcomp |
| 8 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 fasten | obj |
| 9 | up | up | ADP | _ | 7 fasten | compound:prt |
| 10 | at | at | ADP | _ | 11 once | case |
| 11 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 7 fasten | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 did | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 did | cc |
| 14 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 did | nsubj |
| 15 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 begged | conj |
| 16 | so | so | ADV | _ | 15 did | advmod |
| 17 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 20 collar | punct |
| 18 | with | with | ADP | _ | 20 collar | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 collar | det |
| 20 | collar | collar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 begged | obl |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 chains | cc |
| 22 | chains | chain | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 collar | conj |
| 23 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 25 made | nsubj |
| 24 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 made | aux:pass |
| 25 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 collar | acl:relcl |
| 26 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 ago | obl:unmarked |
| 27 | ago | ago | ADV | _ | 25 made | advmod |
| 28 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 31 days | punct |
| 29 | in | in | ADP | _ | 31 days | case |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 days | det |
| 31 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 made | obl |
| 32 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 34 sang | mark |
| 33 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 sang | nsubj |
| 34 | sang | sing | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 made | advcl |
| 35 | over | over | ADP | _ | 37 work | case |
| 36 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 work | nmod:poss |
| 37 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 sang | obl |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 made | cc |
| 39 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 begged | conj |
| 40 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 made | obj |
| 41 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 made | xcomp |
| 42 | enough | enough | ADV | _ | 41 strong | advmod |
| 43 | to | to | PART | _ | 44 bear | mark |
| 44 | bear | bear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 strong | advcl |
| 45 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 46 strain | det |
| 46 | strain | strain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 bear | obj |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 begged | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | beg speech: request | past | the dragon | basins = basin | then | with the collar and chains | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||
| 2 | fasten up not said to happen | to-infinitive | the dragon not said here | Dragon | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | ||||
| 3 | do | past | basins = basin | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | make | past · passive | the collar and chains | day | ago property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product | |||
| 5 | sing speech: express | past | men | basins's work | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over work=Location | ||||
| 6 | make | past | the dragon not said here | pet | strong property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product | |||
| 7 | bear | to-infinitive | the dragon not said here | any strain | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strain=Patient | ||||
| 8 | work | basins = basin | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg23661/12/264/