---
title: “Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,” continued the china lad… — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · tree and pragmatics
description: “Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,” continued the china lady, “who is always trying to stand upon his head. Who acts: Joker. A sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter XX. The Dainty China Country, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter XX. The Dainty China Country, sentence 54

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“Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,” continued the china lady, “who is always trying to stand upon his head.

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**Who acts:** Joker · **What happens:** be, continue, try, stand · **To what, where:** Joker, china lady, head

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This is a sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter XX. The Dainty China Country. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Joker), 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:pg55:22:54
# text = “Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,” continued the china lady, “who is always trying to stand upon his head.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:desc	_	_
6	Joker	Joker	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	appos	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	clowns	clown	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
14	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	china	china	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	23	advmod	_	_
23	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | Joker |  |  |  | Mr. *nmod:desc* | tree rules |
| 2 | **continue** | past | Joker | the china lady |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent lady=Theme |
| 3 | **try** *in a quote* | present · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **stand** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | Joker's head |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon head=Location |

<!-- .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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