---
title: Thus, though the struggle was a tremendous one, and though the drago… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Thus, though the struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away. Wh
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4, sentence 17

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Thus, though the struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away.

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**Who acts:** struggle, dragon, Cadmus · **What happens:** be, shatter, slash, stab, not be, bethink · **To what, where:** tremendous one, tuft, small splinters, Cadmus

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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 (struggle, dragon, Cadmus), 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:pg976:13:17
# text = Thus, though the struggle was a tremendous one, and though the dragon shattered the tuft of trees into small splinters by the lashing of his tail, yet, as Cadmus was all the while slashing and stabbing at his very vitals, it was not long before the scaly wretch bethought himself of slipping away.
1	Thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
3	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	struggle	struggle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	tremendous	tremendous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	shattered	shatter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	tuft	tuft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	splinters	splinter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	lashing	lashing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
33	Cadmus	Cadmus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
35	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	37	det:predet	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	slashing	slash	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	stabbing	stab	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	conj	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
43	very	very	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	vitals	vital	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
48	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	49	advmod	_	_
49	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	54	advmod	_	_
50	before	before	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	scaly	scaly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	wretch	wretch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
54	bethought	bethink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
55	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	54	obj	_	_
56	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
57	slipping	slip	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	54	advcl	_	_
58	away	away	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the struggle | a tremendous one |  |  |  | thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **shatter** | past | the dragon | the tuft of trees |  |  | yet | into small splinters *result*; by the lashing of Cadmus's tail | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent tuft=Patient into splinter=Result |
| 3 | **slash** | past · progressive | Cadmus |  |  |  |  |  | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **stab** | gerund | Cadmus *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at Cadmus's vitals | vn poke-19-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at vital=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **is** | past | dragon |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **bethink** | past | Cadmus *not said here* | Cadmus |  |  | before the scaly wretch |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **slip away** | gerund | Cadmus *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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