---
title: It was quite useless, in the end he had to count out the fifty-four,… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was quite useless, in the end he had to count out the fifty-four, and worse than that, because he dropped one or two in his hurry, he had to begin again from the very first, to be sure the number was complete. Who acts: vain, fire, end, number. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang,
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 1, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was quite useless, in the end he had to count out the fifty-four, and worse than that, because he dropped one or two in his hurry, he had to begin again from the very first, to be sure the number was complete.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** vain, fire, end, number · **What happens:** be, have, count out, drop, begin, hurry · **To what, where:** end, fifty four, one, hurry

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (vain, fire, end, number), 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:pg7277:36:48
# text = It was quite useless, in the end he had to count out the fifty-four, and worse than that, because he dropped one or two in his hurry, he had to begin again from the very first, to be sure the number was complete.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	out	out	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	_
21	than	than	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	obj	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
38	again	again	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	very	very	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
45	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	cop	_	_
46	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	advcl	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
50	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | vain |  |  |  | in the end | useless *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | fire | the end *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **count out** | to-infinitive | the end *not said here* | the fifty four |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent four=Theme |
| 4 | **be** |  | vain *not said here* |  |  |  |  | than that | tree rules |
| 5 | **drop** | past | fire | one |  | fire's hurry |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent one=Theme in hurry=Destination |
| 6 | **have** | past | fire |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **begin** | to-infinitive | fire *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 8 | **is** | to-infinitive | fire *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **is** | past | the number |  |  |  |  | complete *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **hurry** |  | fire |  |  |  |  |  | nom hurry «state 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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