---
title: Ulysses had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Ulysses had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it appeared to him that the plant had burst into full flower the instant when Quicksilver touched it with his fingers. Who acts: Ulysses, it, Quicksilver. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 4
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 4, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ulysses had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it appeared to him that the plant had burst into full flower the instant when Quicksilver touched it with his fingers.

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**Who acts:** Ulysses, it, Quicksilver · **What happens:** look, appear, burst, touch · **To what, where:** Ulysses, plant, full flower

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., 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 (Ulysses, it, Quicksilver), 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:pg976:18:2
# text = Ulysses had been looking at that very spot only just before; and it appeared to him that the plant had burst into full flower the instant when Quicksilver touched it with his fingers.
1	Ulysses	Ulysses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	aux	_	_
4	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	just	just	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	before	before	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	burst	burst	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	_
23	into	into	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl:unmarked	_	_
28	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
29	Quicksilver	quicksilver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past · perfect · progressive | Ulysses |  |  |  |  | at that spot | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at spot=Theme |
| 2 | **appear** | past | it |  | Ulysses |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **burst** | past · perfect · passive |  | the plant |  | full flower |  | the instant *obl:unmarked* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **touch** | past | Quicksilver | plant |  |  |  | with Quicksilver's fingers | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Theme with finger=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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