---
title: ‘What is the use of talking,’ he replied roughly, ‘when a good-for-n… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What is the use of talking,’ he replied roughly, ‘when a good-for-nothing creature like that can hear all we say?’ Who acts: ox, good nothing creature, we. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 25, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 73

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‘What is the use of talking,’ he replied roughly, ‘when a good-for-nothing creature like that can hear all we say?’

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**Who acts:** ox, good nothing creature, we · **What happens:** be, talk, reply, hear, say · **To what, where:** use · **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 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ox, good nothing creature, we), 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:pg3454:25:73
# text = ‘What is the use of talking,’ he replied roughly, ‘when a good-for-nothing creature like that can hear all we say?’
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	11	obl	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	roughly	roughly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
14	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	26	mark	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
17	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	22	compound	_	_
22	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	nmod	_	_
25	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
27	all	all	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
28	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the use |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **talk** | gerund | ox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | ox |  |  |  |  | roughly *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hear** | can | a good nothing creature like that |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | we |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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