---
title: There is only one thing I ask in return for my help—such as it is. — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · tree and pragmatics
description: There is only one thing I ask in return for my help—such as it is. Who acts: one thing, I, help, my. A sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter XV. The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter XV. The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible, sentence 162

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There is only one thing I ask in return for my help—such as it is.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** one thing, I, help, my · **What happens:** be, ask, help · **To what, where:** return

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This is a sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter XV. The Discovery of Oz, the Terrible. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one thing, I, help, my), 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:pg55:17:162
# text = There is only one thing I ask in return for my help—such as it is.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	12	amod	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | one thing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | I |  |  | return |  | for my help | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | help |  |  |  |  | such *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **help** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom help «act transitive»: poss=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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