---
title: “But it is not a foolish errand, nor an idle one,” replied the Scare… — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · tree and pragmatics
description: “But it is not a foolish errand, nor an idle one,” replied the Scarecrow; “it is important. Who acts: instant, foolish errand. A sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter X. The Guardian of the Gate, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter X. The Guardian of the Gate, sentence 86

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“But it is not a foolish errand, nor an idle one,” replied the Scarecrow; “it is important.

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**Who acts:** instant, foolish errand · **What happens:** not be, reply, be · **To what, where:** foolish errand, Scarecrow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter X. The Guardian of the Gate. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (instant, foolish errand), 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:pg55:12:86
# text = “But it is not a foolish errand, nor an idle one,” replied the Scarecrow; “it is important.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	errand	errand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	13	cc	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	idle	idle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
16	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Scarecrow	scarecrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	expl	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | instant | a foolish errand nor a idle one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | a foolish errand nor a idle one | the Scarecrow |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent scarecrow=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | a foolish errand nor a idle one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | important *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Project Gutenberg book 55 (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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