---
title: It is such a dreary length of time since the white bull carried off… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It is such a dreary length of time since the white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt whether such a little girl ever lived in the world. Who acts: substance, white bull, I, sister. A sentence of «Tangl
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 2, sentence 32

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It is such a dreary length of time since the white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt whether such a little girl ever lived in the world.

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**Who acts:** substance, white bull, I, sister, little girl · **What happens:** be, carry off, forget, look, live, intonate · **To what, where:** dreary length, sister, doubt, world, voice

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., 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 (substance, white bull, I, sister), 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:pg976:11:32
# text = It is such a dreary length of time since the white bull carried off my sister Europa, that I have quite forgotten how she looked, and the tones of her voice, and, indeed, almost doubt whether such a little girl ever lived in the world.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	6	det:predet	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	dreary	dreary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	bull	bull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	Europa	Europa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
24	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	parataxis	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	_
41	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
42	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	45	det:predet	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
46	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	47	advmod	_	_
47	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | substance | such dreary length |  |  | time | indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **carry off** | past | the white bull | my sister |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sister=Theme |
| 3 | **forget** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **look** | past | sister |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **live** | past | such little girl | doubt *not said here* |  | the world | ever |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme doubt=Location |
| 6 | **intonate** |  |  | sister's voice |  |  |  |  | nom tone «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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