---
title: As for his breath--the breath of cattle, you know, is always sweet--… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: As for his breath--the breath of cattle, you know, is always sweet--it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing on no other food than rosebuds, or at least, the most delicate of clover blossoms. Who acts: you, cattle, bull. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 1, sentence 22

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As for his breath--the breath of cattle, you know, is always sweet--it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing on no other food than rosebuds, or at least, the most delicate of clover blossoms.

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**Who acts:** you, cattle, bull · **What happens:** know, be, graze · **To what, where:** cattle, least

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., 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 (you, cattle, bull), 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:pg976:10:22
# text = As for his breath--the breath of cattle, you know, is always sweet--it was as fragrant as if he had been grazing on no other food than rosebuds, or at least, the most delicate of clover blossoms.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	4	case	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	16	advmod	_	_
16	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	as	as	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	fragrant	fragrant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	aux	_	_
27	grazing	graze	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	31	det	_	_
30	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	than	than	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	rosebuds	rosebud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	41	advmod	_	_
41	delicate	delicate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	clover	clover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	blossoms	blossom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | you | cattle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer cattle=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  | least |  | as bull's breath and the breath of cattle; always, sweet *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | cattle |  |  |  |  | fragrant *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **graze** | past · perfect · progressive | bull |  |  |  |  | on no other food than rosebuds | vn dine-39.5 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent on food=Patient |
| 5 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  | of clover blossoms | 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:** «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Project Gutenberg book 976 (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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