---
title: He was once a king, named Picus, and a pretty good sort of a king, t… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was once a king, named Picus, and a pretty good sort of a king, too, only rather too proud of his purple robe, and his crown, and the golden chain about his neck; so he was forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered bird. Who acts: Quicksilver. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Haw
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 3, sentence 95

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He was once a king, named Picus, and a pretty good sort of a king, too, only rather too proud of his purple robe, and his crown, and the golden chain about his neck; so he was forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered bird.

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**Who acts:** Quicksilver · **What happens:** be, name, force, take, sort, crown · **To what, where:** king, Quicksilver, shape

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Quicksilver), 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:pg976:17:95
# text = He was once a king, named Picus, and a pretty good sort of a king, too, only rather too proud of his purple robe, and his crown, and the golden chain about his neck; so he was forced to take the shape of a gaudy-feathered bird.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|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	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
8	Picus	Picus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	too	too	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	proud	proud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	robe	robe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	crown	crown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	appos	_	_
38	about	about	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	conj	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	xcomp	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
52	gaudy	gaudy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	feathered	feathered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Quicksilver | a king and a good sort of a king |  |  |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **name** | participle |  | a king and a good sort of a king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **force** | past · passive |  | Quicksilver |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **take** | to-infinitive | Quicksilver *not said here* | the shape of a feathered bird |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Theme |
| 5 | **sort** |  |  | a king |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **crown** |  | Quicksilver |  |  |  |  |  | nom crown «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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