---
title: The youth denied that he had said this, but all to no purpose, for t… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The youth denied that he had said this, but all to no purpose, for the King was deaf to all his words; so there was nothing to be done but say that he would make the attempt. Who acts: youth, all, nothing, King. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dwarfs, part 2, with its de
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Three Dwarfs, part 2, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The youth denied that he had said this, but all to no purpose, for the King was deaf to all his words; so there was nothing to be done but say that he would make the attempt.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** youth, all, nothing, King · **What happens:** deny, say, be, do, make, word · **To what, where:** this, attempt · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dwarfs, 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 (youth, all, nothing, King), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg540:38:28
# text = The youth denied that he had said this, but all to no purpose, for the King was deaf to all his words; so there was nothing to be done but say that he would make the attempt.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	denied	deny	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	nsubj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
28	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
29	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	28	nsubj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	ccomp	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deny** | past | the youth |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | youth | this |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | past | all |  |  |  |  | to King's words; deaf *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** | past | nothing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive · passive | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V» |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **make** | would | King | the attempt |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Product |
| 8 | **word** |  | King |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=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 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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