--- title: This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus wa… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it were his sword blade. Who acts: This, I, dragon. 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/pg976/13/28/) [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/) / 28 # Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4, sentence 28 This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it were his sword blade. **Who acts:** This, I, dragon · **What happens:** be, exhaust, kill, knock, have, dig · **To what, where:** tedious piece, Cadmus, dragon, head, pieces, nothing 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, dragon), 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:pg976:13:28 # text = This, likewise, was a tedious piece of work, especially as Cadmus was already exhausted with killing the dragon and knocking his head to pieces, and had nothing to dig the earth with, that I know of, unless it were his sword blade. 1 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 8 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 3 likewise likewise ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 tedious tedious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 12 especially especially ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 13 as as SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 14 Cadmus Cadmus PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nsubj:pass _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux:pass _ _ 16 already already ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 exhausted exhaust VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 8 parataxis _ _ 18 with with SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 19 killing kill VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 knocking knock VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 24 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 26 to to ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 parataxis _ _ 31 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 30 obj _ _ 32 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 33 dig dig VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 acl _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 36 with with ADP IN _ 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 that that SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 39 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 parataxis _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 43 unless unless SCONJ IN _ 48 mark _ _ 44 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 45 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 46 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 47 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 compound _ _ 48 blade blade NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | This | a tedious piece | | | | of work; likewise *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **exhaust** | past · passive | | Cadmus | | | | especially *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | | 3 | **kill** | gerund | | the dragon | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dragon=Theme | | 4 | **knock** | gerund | | Cadmus's head | | pieces | | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent head=Theme to piece=Destination | | 5 | **have** | past | | nothing | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient | | 6 | **dig** | to-infinitive | | the earth | | | | | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent earth=Theme | | 7 | **know** | present | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | dragon | Cadmus's sword blade | | | | | 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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/29/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon's Teeth., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/13/)