---
title: “What _is_ the use of repeating all that stuff,” the Mock Turtle int… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “What _is_ the use of repeating all that stuff,” the Mock Turtle interrupted, “if you don’t explain it as you go on? Who acts: _, use, you. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille, sentence 119

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“What \_is\_ the use of repeating all that stuff,” the Mock Turtle interrupted, “if you don’t explain it as you go on?

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**Who acts:** \_, use, you · **What happens:** be, repeat, interrupt, not explain, go on · **To what, where:** stuff

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter X. The Lobster Quadrille. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (\_, use, you), 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:pg11:11:119
# text = “What _is_ the use of repeating all that stuff,” the Mock Turtle interrupted, “if you don’t explain it as you go on?
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj:outer	_	_
3	_	_	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	2	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
8	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	repeating	repeat	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	Mock	Mock	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	Turtle	Turtle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	interrupted	interrupt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	explain	explain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	parataxis	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
30	on	on	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | \_ |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **repeat** *in a quote* | gerund | the use *not said here* | all stuff |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stuff=Eventuality |
| 3 | **interrupt** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **explain** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · do-support | you | stuff |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 5 | **go on** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Project Gutenberg book 11 (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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