---
title: I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told y… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you, when at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow. Who acts: I, Cadmus, man. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you, when at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow.

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**Who acts:** I, Cadmus, man · **What happens:** not know, go, tell, behold · **To what, where:** man, you, brindled cow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I, Cadmus, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg976:12:50
# text = I know not how far Cadmus had gone, nor could he himself have told you, when at no great distance before him, he beheld a brindled cow.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
4	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
5	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
6	Cadmus	Cadmus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	15	cc	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	12	nmod:unmarked	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
21	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
23	before	before	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	brindled	brindled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **go** | past · perfect | Cadmus |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could · perfect · passive |  | man | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient you=Topic |
| 4 | **behold** | past | man | a brindled cow |  |  |  | at no great distance before man | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cow=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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