--- title: The cow was by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that some… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The cow was by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and all in a terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into the bargain. Who acts: cow, miles. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathan --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/91/) [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/) / 91 # Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 3, sentence 91 The cow was by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and all in a terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into the bargain. **Who acts:** cow, miles · **What happens:** be, choose, have, scramble, wade, bedraggle · **To what, where:** path, rocks, mud 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 (cow, miles), 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:pg976:12:91 # text = The cow was by no means very nice in choosing her path; so that sometimes they had to scramble over rocks, or wade through mud and mire, and all in a terribly bedraggled condition, and tired to death, and very hungry, into the bargain. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 cow cow NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 by by ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 6 obl _ _ 6 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 very very ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 nice nice ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 xcomp _ _ 9 in in SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 10 choosing choose VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 11 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 path path NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT : _ 18 punct _ _ 14 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 18 mark _ _ 15 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 fixed _ _ 16 sometimes sometimes ADV RB PronType=Ind 18 advmod _ _ 17 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 scramble scramble VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 xcomp _ _ 21 over over ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 rocks rock NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 or or CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 wade wade VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 conj _ _ 26 through through ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 mud mud NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 mire mire NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 32 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 40 nsubj _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 35 terribly terribly ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 bedraggled bedraggle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 amod _ _ 37 condition condition NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 tired tired ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 advcl _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 45 very very ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 hungry hungry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 48 into into ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 bargain bargain NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the cow | | | | | by no; mean, nice *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **choose** | gerund | the cow *not said here* | cow's path | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent path=Theme | | 3 | **have** | past | miles *= mile* | | | | | sometimes *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **scramble** | to-infinitive | miles *= mile* *not said here* | | | rocks | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over rock=Trajectory | | 5 | **wade** | present | miles *= mile* *not said here* | | | mud and mire | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through mud=Trajectory | | 6 | **bedraggle** | participle | | | | | | terribly *property* | tree rules | 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 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/90/) - next →: [sentence 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/92/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon's Teeth., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/12/)