---
title: "Oh, I don't mean what you mean," said the dragon, "but I should lik… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: "Oh, I don't mean what you mean," said the dragon, "but I should like you to do a job for me. Who acts: dragon, you. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Dragon Tamers], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers\], sentence 56

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"Oh, I don't mean what you mean," said the dragon, "but I should like you to do a job for me.

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**Who acts:** dragon, you · **What happens:** not mean, mean, say, like, do · **To what, where:** you, job · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, you), 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:pg23661:12:56
# text = "Oh, I don't mean what you mean," said the dragon, "but I should like you to do a job for me.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **mean** *in a quote* | present · do-support | the dragon *= dragon* |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the dragon |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **like** *in a quote* | should | the dragon *= dragon* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the dragon *= dragon* *not said here* | a job |  |  |  | for the dragon *= dragon* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent job=Eventuality |

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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 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.

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