--- title: “There is no good talking to him,” said a Dragon-fly, who was sittin… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics description: “There is no good talking to him,” said a Dragon-fly, who was sitting on the top of a large brown bulrush; “no good at all, for he has gone away.” Who acts: good, Dragon fly, fly. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the prag --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/6/161/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Happy Prince, and Other Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/) / [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/6/) / 161 # The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 6, sentence 161 “There is no good talking to him,” said a Dragon-fly, who was sitting on the top of a large brown bulrush; “no good at all, for he has gone away.” **Who acts:** good, Dragon fly, fly · **What happens:** be, talk, say, sit, go away · **To what, where:** Court, top · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (good, Dragon fly, fly), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg902:6:161 # text = “There is no good talking to him,” said a Dragon-fly, who was sitting on the top of a large brown bulrush; “no good at all, for he has gone away.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 3 expl _ _ 3 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 ccomp _ _ 4 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 5 det _ _ 5 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 nsubj _ _ 6 talking talk VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 11 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 13 Dragon Dragon PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 14 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 fly fly NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 19 nsubj _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 19 sitting sit VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 15 acl _ _ 20 on on ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 25 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 26 brown brown ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 bulrush bulrush NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 31 punct _ _ 29 “ " PUNCT `` _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 31 det _ _ 31 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 parataxis _ _ 32 at at ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 35 for for SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 gone go VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 parataxis _ _ 39 away away ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ” " PUNCT '' _ 38 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | no good | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **talk** *in a quote* | gerund | no good *not said here* | | Court | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to he=Co-Agent | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a Dragon fly | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **sit** | past · progressive | a Dragon fly | | | the top of a large brown bulrush | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on top=Location | | 5 | **go away** *in a quote* | present · perfect | fly | | | | | away *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Text:** «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Project Gutenberg book 902 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 160](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/6/160/) - next →: [sentence 162](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/6/162/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/6/)