---
title: But he was very, very wise--he could not have been wiser if he had b… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: But he was very, very wise--he could not have been wiser if he had been a mile high. Who acts: Tom. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 3, sentence 57

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But he was very, very wise--he could not have been wiser if he had been a mile high.

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**Who acts:** Tom · **What happens:** be, not be

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tom), 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:pg23661:3:57
# text = But he was very, very wise--he could not have been wiser if he had been a mile high.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
14	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	conj	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
18	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	cop	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	mile	mile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Tom |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | could · perfect | Tom |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | Tom |  |  |  |  | a mile *obl:unmarked*; high *property* | tree rules |

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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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