--- title: He had once seen a piece of money that was gold, and he knew that it… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics description: He had once seen a piece of money that was gold, and he knew that it would buy a great, great many things; and now he thought that if he could get only a little bit of the pave-ment, he would have everything that he wanted. Who acts: lad, that, gold. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by Ja --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/16/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / [I. the City.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/) / 16 # Fifty Famous Stories Retold, I. the City., sentence 16 He had once seen a piece of money that was gold, and he knew that it would buy a great, great many things; and now he thought that if he could get only a little bit of the pave-ment, he would have everything that he wanted. **Who acts:** lad, that, gold · **What happens:** see, be, know, buy, think, get · **To what, where:** piece, gold, great great many things, little bit, everything · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, I. the City.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lad, that, gold), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg18442:49:16 # text = He had once seen a piece of money that was gold, and he knew that it would buy a great, great many things; and now he thought that if he could get only a little bit of the pave-ment, he would have everything that he wanted. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 4 advmod _ _ 4 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 money money NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ 9 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 11 nsubj _ _ 10 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 cop _ _ 11 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 16 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 17 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 18 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 19 buy buy VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 ccomp _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 21 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 23 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 24 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT : _ 30 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 28 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 30 advmod _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 31 that that SCONJ IN _ 48 mark _ _ 32 if if SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 34 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 advcl _ _ 36 only only ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 bit bit NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 42 pave pave NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 43 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ment ment NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 46 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 47 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 48 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 ccomp _ _ 49 everything everything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 48 obj _ _ 50 that that SCONJ IN _ 52 mark _ _ 51 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 52 nsubj _ _ 52 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past · perfect | lad | a piece of money and gold | | | | once *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer piece=Stimulus | | 2 | **is a** | past | that | gold | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **know** | past | lad | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **buy** | would | gold | a great great many things | | | | | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme | | 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | lad | | | | now | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 6 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | lad | a little bit of the pave ment | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **have** | would | lad | everything | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Patient | | 8 | **want** | past | lad | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot | 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:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/17/) - ↑ back to [I. the City.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/49/)