---
title: But they are greedy, grasping people, the kind who would take four h… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: But they are greedy, grasping people, the kind who would take four helps of pudding, as likely as not, which neither Tom nor Mary Ann ever did. Who acts: people, kind, Tom. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 17

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But they are greedy, grasping people, the kind who would take four helps of pudding, as likely as not, which neither Tom nor Mary Ann ever did.

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**Who acts:** people, kind, Tom · **What happens:** be, grasp, take, help, do · **To what, where:** people, four

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, kind, 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:pg23661:5:17
# text = But they are greedy, grasping people, the kind who would take four helps of pudding, as likely as not, which neither Tom nor Mary Ann ever did.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	greedy	greedy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	grasping	grasp	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	obj	_	_
15	helps	help	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	pudding	pudding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obj	_	_
25	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	26	cc:preconj	_	_
26	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
27	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	28	cc	_	_
28	Mary	Mary	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
29	Ann	Ann	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	flat	_	_
30	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	31	advmod	_	_
31	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | people |  |  |  |  | greedy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grasp** | gerund | people *not said here* | people |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer people=Stimulus |
| 3 | **take** | would | the kind | four |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent four=Theme |
| 4 | **help** | present | the kind |  |  |  |  | of pudding | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **do** | past | Tom nor Mary |  |  |  | ever |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=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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