---
title: He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be guided by… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed that this brindled animal could be the one. Who acts: herdsman, cow, strangers, brindled animal. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth.
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3, sentence 82

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed that this brindled animal could be the one.

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**Who acts:** herdsman, cow, strangers, brindled animal · **What happens:** mention, bid, guide, inquire, suppose, be · **To what, where:** oracle, one

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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 (herdsman, cow, strangers, brindled animal), 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:pg976:12:82
# text = He mentioned, likewise, that the oracle had bidden him be guided by a cow, and inquired of the strangers whether they supposed that this brindled animal could be the one.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	mentioned	mention	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	likewise	likewise	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	oracle	oracle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	bidden	bid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	guided	guide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	xcomp	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	strangers	stranger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	supposed	suppose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
28	brindled	brindled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mention** *speech: other* | past | herdsman |  |  |  |  | likewise *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **bid** | past · perfect · passive |  | the oracle |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **guide** | infinitive · passive | a cow |  |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **inquire** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | of the strangers | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent of stranger=Recipient |
| 5 | **suppose** | past | strangers *= stranger* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | could | this brindled animal | the one |  |  |  |  | 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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