---
title: “If there’s no meaning in it,” said the King, “that saves a world of… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “If there’s no meaning in it,” said the King, “that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn’t try to find any. Who acts: King, that, you, we. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter XII. Alice’s Evidence, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter XII. Alice’s Evidence, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“If there’s no meaning in it,” said the King, “that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn’t try to find any.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** King, that, you, we · **What happens:** say, save, know, need, not try, find · **To what, where:** world, any · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter XII. Alice’s Evidence. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, that, you, we), 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:pg11:13:63
# text = “If there’s no meaning in it,” said the King, “that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn’t try to find any.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
17	saves	save	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **save** *in a quote* | present | that | a world of trouble |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent world=Theme |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **need** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **try** *not said to happen, in a quote* | infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **find** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | any |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=Topic |

<!-- .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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