--- title: This bold method of attacking him took the dragon by surprise; for,… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: This bold method of attacking him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. Who acts: bold method, Cadmus, rows. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Natha --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/16/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/) / 16 # Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4, sentence 16 This bold method of attacking him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. **Who acts:** bold method, Cadmus, rows · **What happens:** attack, take, leap, not close, do · **To what, where:** method, dragon, throat, Cadmus This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bold method, Cadmus, rows), 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:pg976:13:16 # text = This bold method of attacking him took the dragon by surprise; for, in fact, Cadmus had leaped so far down into his throat, that the rows of terrible teeth could not close upon him, nor do him the least harm in the world. 1 This this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 3 det _ _ 2 bold bold ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 method method NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 4 of of SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 5 attacking attack VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 3 acl _ _ 6 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 obj _ _ 7 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 by by ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 surprise surprise NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 13 for for ADP IN _ 16 case _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 in in ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 fact fact NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 18 Cadmus Cadmus PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 19 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 20 leaped leap VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 conj _ _ 21 so so ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 23 advmod _ _ 23 down down ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 24 into into ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 throat throat NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 rows row NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 nsubj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 teeth tooth NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nmod _ _ 34 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 35 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 36 advmod _ _ 36 close close VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 advcl _ _ 37 upon upon ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 41 cc _ _ 41 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 conj _ _ 42 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 least least ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 45 amod _ _ 45 harm harm NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 46 in in ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **attack** | gerund | this bold method *not said here* | method | | | | | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | | 2 | **take** | past | this bold method | | the dragon | | | by surprise | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument dragon=Destination | | 3 | **leap** | past · perfect | Cadmus | | | Cadmus's throat | | for fact; down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into throat=Destination | | 4 | **not** **close** | could | the rows of terrible teeth | | | | | upon Cadmus | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **do** | infinitive | the rows of terrible teeth *not said here* | Cadmus | | | | | 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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/17/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon's Teeth., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/)