---
title: You would not understand why if I told you--because you are only in… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: You would not understand why if I told you--because you are only in long division at present; yet if you want me to tell you, so that you can show off to other children, I will. Who acts: You, I, me. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 9, sentence 42

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You would not understand why if I told you--because you are only in long division at present; yet if you want me to tell you, so that you can show off to other children, I will.

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**Who acts:** You, I, me · **What happens:** not understand, tell, be, want, show off · **To what, where:** you, long division, me, other children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (You, I, me), 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:pg23661:9:42
# text = You would not understand why if I told you--because you are only in long division at present; yet if you want me to tell you, so that you can show off to other children, I will.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
14	only	only	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	division	division	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	34	mark	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	fixed	_	_
32	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
35	off	off	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | would | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | you |  |  | long division |  | at present | tree rules |
| 4 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | me |  |  | yet |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | me *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 6 | **show off** | can | you |  | other children |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to child=Recipient |

<!-- .note -->
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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