---
title: ‘What is the use of that?’ she asked, ‘when it has no hand to feel w… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What is the use of that?’ she asked, ‘when it has no hand to feel with?’ but all the same she did as she was bid, and in an instant the wounded arm touched something round and soft, lying between two stones in a clump of reeds. Who acts: snake, use, wounded arm. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book»
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 86

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‘What is the use of that?’ she asked, ‘when it has no hand to feel with?’ but all the same she did as she was bid, and in an instant the wounded arm touched something round and soft, lying between two stones in a clump of reeds.

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**Who acts:** snake, use, wounded arm · **What happens:** be, ask, have, feel, do, bid · **To what, where:** use, hand, snake, something, instant, clump · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snake, use, wounded arm), 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:pg3454:21:86
# text = ‘What is the use of that?’ she asked, ‘when it has no hand to feel with?’ but all the same she did as she was bid, and in an instant the wounded arm touched something round and soft, lying between two stones in a clump of reeds.
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	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’	'	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
18	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	27	det:predet	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
30	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	bid	bid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	wounded	wounded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
43	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	42	obj	_	_
44	round	round	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
48	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	_
49	between	between	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	51	nummod	_	_
51	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	clump	clump	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	reeds	reed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the use |  |  |  | of that | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | snake |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **have** | present | use | no hand |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 4 | **feel** | to-infinitive | use *not said here* | no hand *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **do** | past | snake |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **bid** | past · passive |  | snake |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **touch** | past | the wounded arm | something |  | a instant |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme something=Co-Theme |
| 8 | **lie** | gerund | the wounded arm *not said here* |  |  | a clump of reeds |  | between two stones | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent between stone=Location |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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