--- title: "What is the use of all my capabilities," sighed the old lamp, "when… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "What is the use of all my capabilities," sighed the old lamp, "when I cannot obtain any wax lights; they have only oil and tallow here, and these will not do." Who acts: use, Africa, capabilities, these. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Street Lamp, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/133/99/) [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/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Old Street Lamp](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/133/) / 99 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Street Lamp, sentence 99 "What is the use of all my capabilities," sighed the old lamp, "when I cannot obtain any wax lights; they have only oil and tallow here, and these will not do." **Who acts:** use, Africa, capabilities, these · **What happens:** be, sigh, not obtain, have, tallow, not do · **To what, where:** use, old lamp, wax lights, oil · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Street Lamp. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (use, Africa, capabilities, these), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:133:99 # text = "What is the use of all my capabilities," sighed the old lamp, "when I cannot obtain any wax lights; they have only oil and tallow here, and these will not do." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 5 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 use use NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 9 det:predet _ _ 8 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 capabilities capability NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 12 sighed sigh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 lamp lamp NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 17 " " PUNCT `` _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 when when SCONJ WRB _ 22 mark _ _ 19 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 22 obtain obtain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 conj _ _ 23 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 25 det _ _ 24 wax wax NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 compound _ _ 25 lights light NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 27 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 parataxis _ _ 29 only only ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 oil oil NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 tallow tallow VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 33 here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 36 these this PRON DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 39 nsubj _ _ 37 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 38 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 39 advmod _ _ 39 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 " " PUNCT '' _ 39 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | | the use | | | | of my capabilities | tree rules | | 2 | **sigh** | past | the use | the old lamp | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **obtain** *in a quote* | can | Africa | any wax lights | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent light=Theme | | 4 | **have** *in a quote* | present | capabilities *= capability* | oil | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oil=Patient | | 5 | **tallow** *in a quote* | present | capabilities *= capability* *not said here* | | | here | | | tree rules | | 6 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | future | these | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **Text:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 98](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/133/98/) - next →: [sentence 100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/133/100/) - ↑ back to [The Old Street Lamp](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/133/)