---
title: ‘“What is the good of telling me that?” he asked, in a weepy voice;… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘“What is the good of telling me that?” he asked, in a weepy voice; “you know I cannot even walk as far as that palm.” Who acts: donkey, you. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 104

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘“What is the good of telling me that?” he asked, in a weepy voice; “you know I cannot even walk as far as that palm.”

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**Who acts:** donkey, you · **What happens:** be, tell, ask, know, not walk · **To what, where:** that, donkey, weepy voice · **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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (donkey, you), 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:pg3454:5:104
# text = ‘“What is the good of telling me that?” he asked, in a weepy voice; “you know I cannot even walk as far as that palm.”
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obl	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	_
7	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
9	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	weepy	weepy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
27	even	even	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	_
29	as	as	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
31	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	33	det	_	_
33	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | gerund |  | that | donkey |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient that=Topic |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | donkey |  |  | a weepy voice |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **walk** *in a quote* | can | donkey |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: 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 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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