---
title: One of the strange rules which the Spartans had, was that they shoul… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: One of the strange rules which the Spartans had, was that they should speak briefly, and never use more words than were needed. Who acts: Spartans. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, A Laconic Answer., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/35/5/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / [A Laconic Answer.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/35/) / 5

# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, A Laconic Answer., sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One of the strange rules which the Spartans had, was that they should speak briefly, and never use more words than were needed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Spartans · **What happens:** have, be, not use, need · **To what, where:** strange rules, more words

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, A Laconic Answer.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Spartans), 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:pg18442:35:5
# text = One of the strange rules which the Spartans had, was that they should speak briefly, and never use more words than were needed.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Spartans	Spartan	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	parataxis	_	_
16	briefly	briefly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
21	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	amod	_	_
22	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the Spartans | the strange rules |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | should · past | Spartans *= spartan* |  |  |  |  | briefly, speak *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **use** | infinitive | Spartans *= spartan* *not said here* | more words |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |
| 4 | **need** | past · passive |  | more words *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF» |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/35/4/)
- next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/35/6/)
- ↑ back to [A Laconic Answer.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/35/)