---
title: Hardly were the words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Hardly were the words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another "pe--weep," King Picus leaped down from the bough of a tree, as majestic a sovereign as any in the world, dressed in a long purple robe and gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar about his neck, and a go
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 5, sentence 6

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Hardly were the words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another "pe--weep," King Picus leaped down from the bough of a tree, as majestic a sovereign as any in the world, dressed in a long purple robe and gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar about his neck, and a golden crown upon his head.

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**Who acts:** bird, King · **What happens:** be, speak, have, utter, leap down, dress · **To what, where:** words, pe, bough, majestic sovereign, long purple robe · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., 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 (bird, King), 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:pg976:19:6
# text = Hardly were the words spoken, and before the bird had time to utter another "pe--weep," King Picus leaped down from the bough of a tree, as majestic a sovereign as any in the world, dressed in a long purple robe and gorgeous yellow stockings, with a splendidly wrought collar about his neck, and a golden crown upon his head.
1	Hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
8	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	utter	utter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl	_	_
15	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	pe	pe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	weep	weep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	_
22	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	Picus	Picus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	flat	_	_
24	leaped	leap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
25	down	down	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	bough	bough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	majestic	majestic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	parataxis	_	_
37	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	nmod	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
46	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
47	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	robe	robe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
50	gorgeous	gorgeous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
51	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	stockings	stocking	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
56	splendidly	splendidly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
57	wrought	wrought	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	collar	collar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
59	about	about	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	61	nmod:poss	_	_
61	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
63	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
64	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	_
66	crown	crown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
67	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	69	nmod:poss	_	_
69	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the words |  |  |  | hardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | participle · passive |  | the words |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | the bird |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **utter** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the bird *not said here* | another pe and weep |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent pe=Topic |
| 5 | **leap down** | past | King |  |  | the bough of a tree |  | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from bough=Trajectory |
| 6 | **dress** | participle |  | a majestic sovereign as any and a golden crown upon king's head *not said here* |  | a long purple robe and gorgeous yellow stockings |  | with a splendidly wrought collar about king's neck | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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