---
title: All the skill and cunning he had shown before was of no use to him n… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: All the skill and cunning he had shown before was of no use to him now, and after thinking about the scythes for many hours, there seemed only one way open to him. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 27, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All the skill and cunning he had shown before was of no use to him now, and after thinking about the scythes for many hours, there seemed only one way open to him.

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**What happens:** show, be, think, seem · **To what, where:** skill, heart, one way

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg2435:27:28
# text = All the skill and cunning he had shown before was of no use to him now, and after thinking about the scythes for many hours, there seemed only one way open to him.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	cunning	cunning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	shown	show	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	13	det	_	_
13	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nmod	_	_
16	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
19	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	_
21	about	about	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	scythes	scythe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
28	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	29	expl	_	_
29	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
30	only	only	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	xcomp	_	_
33	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | past · perfect · passive |  | all skill and cunning |  |  | now |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  | heart |  | before no use |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  | hour | about the scythes | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about scythe=Topic |
| 4 | **seem** | past |  | one way |  | there |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: 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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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