--- title: Congress must operate from a district it controls, but it can be no… — Washington, D.C. · tree and pragmatics description: Congress must operate from a district it controls, but it can be no larger than ten miles on a side; the 2021 statehood bill got around this by proposing the federal district be shrunk to an area roughly the size of the National Mall. Who acts: Congress, statehood, statehood bill. A sentence of Wiki --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Washington,_D.C./425/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [wikipedia](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/) / [en](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/) / [Washington, D.C.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Washington,_D.C./) / 425 # Washington, D.C., sentence 425 From Wikipedia, [«Washington, D.C.»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too. Congress must operate from a district it controls, but it can be no larger than ten miles on a side; the 2021 statehood bill got around this by proposing the federal district be shrunk to an area roughly the size of the National Mall. **Who acts:** Congress, statehood, statehood bill · **What happens:** operate, control, not be, get, propose, shrink · **To what, where:** district, this, federal district This is a sentence of the English Wikipedia article «Washington, D.C.». The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Congress, statehood, statehood bill), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. The article's note marks are left out of the parse. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = wikipedia:Washington,_D.C.:425 # text = Congress must operate from a district it controls, but it can be no larger than ten miles on a side; the 2021 statehood bill got around this by proposing the federal district be shrunk to an area roughly the size of the National Mall. 1 Congress Congress PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 2 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 operate operate VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 4 from from ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 district district NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 7 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 controls control VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 10 but but CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 12 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 13 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 15 cop _ _ 14 no no ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 larger large ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 parataxis _ _ 16 than than ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 ten ten NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 18 nummod _ _ 18 miles mile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ _ 19 on on ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 24 2021 2021 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 25 nummod _ _ 25 statehood statehood NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 compound _ _ 26 bill bill NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 27 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 28 around around ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 27 obl _ _ 30 by by SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 31 proposing propose VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 27 advcl _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 federal federal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 district district NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 35 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 shrunk shrink VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 31 ccomp _ _ 37 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 area area NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 40 roughly roughly ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 size size NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ _ 43 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 National National ADJ NNP Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 Mall Mall PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **operate** | must | Congress | | | a district | | | vn function-105.2.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **control** | present | statehood | a district *not said here* | | | | | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent district=Theme | | 3 | **not** **is** | can | statehood | | | | | than ten miles on a side; large *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **get** | past | the statehood bill | | | this | | | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme around this=Destination | | 5 | **propose** | gerund | the statehood bill *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **shrink** | infinitive · passive | | the federal district | | | | to a area the size of the National Mall *result* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: subject=Patient to area=Result | 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. **Text:** the English Wikipedia, «Washington, D.C.», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. **Tree:** Mova's own parse, CC BY-SA 4.0 as the text is. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the article read in order, CC BY-SA 4.0. - ← previous: [sentence 424](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Washington,_D.C./424/) - next →: [sentence 426](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Washington,_D.C./426/) - ↑ back to [Washington, D.C.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Washington,_D.C./)