---
title: ‘What would be the use of that?’ said the others who were in the kit… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What would be the use of that?’ said the others who were in the kitchen; ‘you saw what happened last time.’ Who acts: others, you. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Kari Woodengown, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Kari Woodengown, part 2, sentence 40

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‘What would be the use of that?’ said the others who were in the kitchen; ‘you saw what happened last time.’

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**Who acts:** others, you · **What happens:** be, say, see, happen · **To what, where:** use, kitchen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Kari Woodengown, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (others, 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:pg540:30:40
# text = ‘What would be the use of that?’ said the others who were in the kitchen; ‘you saw what happened last time.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	24	nsubj	_	_
24	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
25	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would |  | the use |  |  |  | of that | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the others |  |  | the kitchen |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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