---
title: This cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: This cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth, which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have staid at the bottom of the hole. Who acts: you, words. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tale
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3, sentence 25

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This cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth, which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have staid at the bottom of the hole.

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**Who acts:** you, words · **What happens:** know, look, gush out, be, stai, sort · **To what, where:** cavity, truth, audible words, riddle, bottom, fountain

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, words), 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:pg976:12:25
# text = This cavity, you must know, was looked upon as a sort of fountain of truth, which sometimes gushed out in audible words; although, for the most part, these words were such a riddle that they might just as well have staid at the bottom of the hole.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	cavity	cavity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	looked	look	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	fountain	fountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	21	advmod	_	_
21	gushed	gush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl:relcl	_	_
22	out	out	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	audible	audible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	amod	_	_
32	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	35	det	_	_
35	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
37	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	39	det:predet	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
43	just	just	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
44	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	47	cc	_	_
45	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	44	fixed	_	_
46	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	staid	stai	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	advcl	_	_
48	at	at	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | must | you | this cavity *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer cavity=Stimulus |
| 2 | **look** | past · passive |  | this cavity |  |  |  | upon a sort of fountain of truth | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |
| 3 | **gush out** | participle · passive |  | truth |  | audible words |  | sometimes *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past | this words | such riddle |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **stai** | might · perfect | words *= word* |  |  | the bottom of the hole |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | fountain of truth |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition 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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