---
title: It was the strangest spectacle of causeless wrath, and of mischief f… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the strangest spectacle of causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have slain their brothers with just as little reason as thes
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 4, sentence 50

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It was the strangest spectacle of causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the dragon's teeth.

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**Who acts:** blast, men · **What happens:** be, witness, fight, slay · **To what, where:** strangest spectacle, good end, thousand battles, brothers

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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 (blast, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg976:13:50
# text = It was the strangest spectacle of causeless wrath, and of mischief for no good end, that had ever been witnessed; but, after all, it was neither more foolish nor more wicked than a thousand battles that have since been fought, in which men have slain their brothers with just as little reason as these children of the dragon's teeth.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strangest	strange	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	spectacle	spectacle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	causeless	causeless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	wrath	wrath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	mischief	mischief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
15	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
20	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	22	advmod	_	_
21	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	witnessed	witness	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	after	after	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
31	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	33	advmod	_	_
33	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
34	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	36	cc	_	_
35	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	36	advmod	_	_
36	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	conj	_	_
37	than	than	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	40	nummod	_	_
40	battles	battle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
41	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
43	since	since	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	fought	fight	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	51	obl	_	_
49	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nsubj	_	_
50	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
51	slain	slay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	45	conj	_	_
52	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obj	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
55	just	just	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
56	as	as	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
59	as	as	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	61	det	_	_
61	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	's	's	PART	POS	_	64	case	_	_
66	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | blast | the strangest spectacle and mischief for no good end |  |  |  | of causeless wrath | tree rules |
| 2 | **witness** | past · perfect · passive |  | no good end |  |  | ever |  | vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V NP»: that=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **is** | past | blast |  |  |  | after all | foolish, neither *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | blast *not said here* |  |  |  |  | than a thousand battles | tree rules |
| 5 | **fight** | present · perfect · passive |  | a thousand battles |  |  |  | since *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **slay** | present · perfect | men | spectacle's brothers |  |  |  | with little reason; as this children of the dragon's teeth | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent brother=Patient with reason=Instrument |

<!-- .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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