---
title: For one thing he despised all mothers except Wendy, and for another… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: For one thing he despised all mothers except Wendy, and for another he was the only boy on the island who could neither write nor spell; not the smallest word. Who acts: number, island. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter VII. THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND, with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter VII. THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND, sentence 55

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For one thing he despised all mothers except Wendy, and for another he was the only boy on the island who could neither write nor spell; not the smallest word.

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**Who acts:** number, island · **What happens:** despise, be, write, spell · **To what, where:** mothers, only boy, island

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter VII. THE HOME UNDER THE GROUND. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (number, island), 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:pg16:8:55
# text = For one thing he despised all mothers except Wendy, and for another he was the only boy on the island who could neither write nor spell; not the smallest word.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	despised	despise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	except	except	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Wendy	Wendy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	obl	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	27	cc	_	_
27	spell	spell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	amod	_	_
32	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **despise** | past | number | all mothers |  |  |  | for one thing; except Wendy; the smallest word *obl* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer mother=Stimulus for thing=Attribute |
| 2 | **is a** | past | number | the only boy |  | the island |  | for another | tree rules |
| 3 | **write** | could | the island |  |  |  |  | neither *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **spell** | infinitive | the island *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Project Gutenberg book 16 (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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