---
title: But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to teach them their A B C--which he invented for their benefit, and for which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him as they ought to
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Dragon's Teeth., part 5, sentence 9

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But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to teach them their A B C--which he invented for their benefit, and for which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him as they ought to be.

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**Who acts:** King, I · **What happens:** be, use, find, teach, invent, not be · **To what, where:** King, kingly duties, B C, teeth

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Dragon's Teeth., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, 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:pg976:14:9
# text = But King Cadmus, lest there should be too much of the dragon's tooth in his children's disposition, used to find time from his kingly duties to teach them their A B C--which he invented for their benefit, and for which many little people, I am afraid, are not half so grateful to him as they ought to be.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
2	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	Cadmus	Cadmus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
7	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
9	too	too	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	's	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	disposition	disposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	kingly	kingly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	duties	duty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	teach	teach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	iobj	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
34	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	B	B	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	C	c	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	obj	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
41	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	benefit	benefit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
46	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj	_	_
48	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
49	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
52	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
54	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
56	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	60	cop	_	_
57	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
58	half	half	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	60	advmod	_	_
59	so	so	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
60	grateful	grateful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	conj	_	_
61	to	to	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	obl	_	_
63	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	65	mark	_	_
64	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	nsubj	_	_
65	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	parataxis	_	_
66	to	to	PART	TO	_	67	mark	_	_
67	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	65	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | of the dragon's tooth in King's children's disposition; much *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | participle · passive |  | King |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **find** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | King's kingly duties | time |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from duty=Source |
| 4 | **teach** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  | teeth's B C | teeth *= tooth* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 5 | **invent** | past | King | teeth's B C |  |  |  | for teeth's benefit | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent which=Result for benefit=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | for many little people; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **is** | present | I *not said here* |  | King |  |  | grateful, half *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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