---
title: “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “th… — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · tree and pragmatics
description: “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.” Who acts: I, you, Alice, riddles. A sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, you, Alice, riddles · **What happens:** think, do, say, waste, ask, have · **To what, where:** something, idea, riddles, answers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Alice's Adventures in Wonderland» by Lewis Carroll, Chapter VII. A Mad Tea-Party. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you, Alice, riddles), 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:pg11:8:52
# text = “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	waste	waste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
22	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
23	riddles	riddle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	answers	answer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **do** *in a quote* | might | you | something |  |  | time |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Alice |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **waste** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | idea |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | gerund |  | riddles |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent riddle=Recipient |
| 6 | **have** *in a quote* | present | riddles | no answers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Patient |

<!-- .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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