--- title: So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the l… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with. Who acts: it, little creature, sound, this. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthor --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/15/84/) [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/) / [Circe's Palace., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/15/) / 84 # Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 1, sentence 84 So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with. **Who acts:** it, little creature, sound, this · **What happens:** be, seem, go, break, have, tell · **To what, where:** heart, sound · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, little creature, sound, this), 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:pg976:15:84 # text = So plaintively intelligent was the sound, that it seemed as if the little creature were going to break its heart with some mighty secret that it had to tell, and only this one poor note to tell it with. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 plaintively plaintively ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 3 intelligent intelligent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 sound sound NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 9 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 11 as as SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 12 if if SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 16 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 xcomp _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 break break VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 xcomp _ _ 20 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 heart heart NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 22 with with ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 23 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 25 det _ _ 24 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 secret secret NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ _ 26 that that SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 advcl _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 33 only only ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 34 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 37 nsubj _ _ 35 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 37 nummod _ _ 36 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 note note NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 acl _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 obj _ _ 41 with with ADP IN _ 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | | | | | | intelligent, plaintively *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **seem** | past | it | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 3 | **go** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | the little creature | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **break** | to-infinitive | the little creature *not said here* | sound's heart | | | | with some mighty secret | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent heart=Patient with secret=Instrument | | 5 | **have** | past | sound | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | sound *not said here* | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **note** | | this | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | | | sound | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient | 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 83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/15/83/) - next →: [sentence 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/15/85/) - ↑ back to [Circe's Palace., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/15/)