--- title: Caring little what might happen to him, he took the first path that… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Caring little what might happen to him, he took the first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for, having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. Who acts: home, first path, it. A sentence of «Tan --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/46/) [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/) / [Tanglewood Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/) / [The Dragon's Teeth., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/) / 46 # Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3, sentence 46 Caring little what might happen to him, he took the first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for, having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. **Who acts:** home, first path, it · **What happens:** care, happen, take, offer, go along, have · **To what, where:** little, home, first path, path, object, view 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 (home, first path, it), 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:pg976:12:46 # text = Caring little what might happen to him, he took the first path that offered itself, and went along at a sluggish pace; for, having no object in view, nor any reason to go one way more than another, it would certainly have been foolish to make haste. 1 Caring care VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 10 advcl _ _ 2 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 1 obj _ _ 3 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 5 nsubj _ _ 4 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 happen happen VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 1 ccomp _ _ 6 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 9 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 13 amod _ _ 13 path path NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 14 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 15 nsubj _ _ 15 offered offer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 acl:relcl _ _ 16 itself itself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 20 along along ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 21 at at ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 sluggish sluggish ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 pace pace NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ; ; PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 26 for for SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 28 having have VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 advcl _ _ 29 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 30 det _ _ 30 object object NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 view view NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 36 cc _ _ 35 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 36 det _ _ 36 reason reason NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 parataxis _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 acl _ _ 39 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 40 nummod _ _ 40 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl:unmarked _ _ 41 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 38 advmod _ _ 42 than than ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 45 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 46 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 50 aux _ _ 47 certainly certainly ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 48 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 50 aux _ _ 49 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 50 cop _ _ 50 foolish foolish ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 conj _ _ 51 to to PART TO _ 52 mark _ _ 52 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 50 xcomp _ _ 53 haste haste NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **care** | gerund | home *not said here* | little | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **happen** | might | | | home | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **take** | past | home | the first path | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent path=Theme | | 4 | **offer** | past | the first path | path | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent itself=Theme | | 5 | **go along** | past | home *not said here* | | | | | at a sluggish pace; along *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at pace=Location | | 6 | **have** | gerund | home *not said here* | no object | | view | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent object=Patient | | 7 | **go** | to-infinitive | home *not said here* | one way | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **is** | would · perfect | it | | | | | certainly, foolish *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **make** | to-infinitive | | haste | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset haste=Product | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/47/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon's Teeth., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/)