---
title: This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagi… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws. Who acts: This, I. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/25/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 25

# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** This, I · **What happens:** be, do, imagine, dig out, root · **To what, where:** strange thing, rooted fangs, jaws

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (This, I), 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:pg976:13:25
# text = This was a strange thing to do; nor was it very easy, I should imagine, to dig out all those deep-rooted fangs from the dead dragon's jaws.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	13	cc	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	expl	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	imagine	imagine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	27	det:predet	_	_
23	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
24	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	rooted	root	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	amod	_	_
27	fangs	fang	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	's	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | This | a strange thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **imagine** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **dig out** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | all rooted fangs |  | the dead dragon's jaws |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent fang=Result from jaw=Material |
| 6 | **root** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/24/)
- next →: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/26/)
- ↑ back to [The Dragon's Teeth., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/)