---
title: These people had nothing to do but talk to each other, but they alwa… — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · tree and pragmatics
description: These people had nothing to do but talk to each other, but they always came to wait outside the Throne Room every morning, although they were never permitted to see Oz. As Dorothy entered they looked at her curiously, and one of them whispered: Who acts: people, Dorothy, one. A sentence of «The Wond
---

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# The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter XI. The Wonderful City of Oz, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
These people had nothing to do but talk to each other, but they always came to wait outside the Throne Room every morning, although they were never permitted to see Oz. As Dorothy entered they looked at her curiously, and one of them whispered:

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, Dorothy, one · **What happens:** have, do, talk, come, wait, not permit · **To what, where:** nothing, Throne Room, people, Oz.

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter XI. The Wonderful City of Oz. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, Dorothy, one), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg55:13:45
# text = These people had nothing to do but talk to each other, but they always came to wait outside the Throne Room every morning, although they were never permitted to see Oz. As Dorothy entered they looked at her curiously, and one of them whispered:
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	8	obl	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	16	advmod	_	_
16	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	Throne	Throne	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	Room	Room	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
24	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
29	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	permitted	permit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	Oz.	oz.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
34	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	Dorothy	Dorothy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	entered	enter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	ccomp	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	curiously	curiously	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
44	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	47	nsubj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nmod	_	_
47	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | this people | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | this people *not said here* | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **talk** | infinitive | this people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to each | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to each=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **come** | past | people |  |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **wait** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  | the Throne Room | morning |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme outside room=Location |
| 6 | **not** **permit** | past · passive |  | people |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | Oz. |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer oz.=Stimulus |
| 8 | **enter** | past | Dorothy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **look** | past | Dorothy |  |  |  |  | at Toto's curiously | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at curiously=Theme |
| 10 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | one of Dorothy |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Project Gutenberg book 55 (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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