---
title: But the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly agreeable; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present elevation. Who acts: connection, kind, most people, ladder. A sentence of «Tanglewoo
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Wayside. Introductory., sentence 37

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But the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly agreeable; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present elevation.

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**Who acts:** connection, kind, most people, ladder, name · **What happens:** be, say, mean, kick away, have, help · **To what, where:** ladder, name, present elevation · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Wayside. Introductory.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (connection, kind, most people, ladder), 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:pg976:2:37
# text = But the connection with myself, he was kind enough to say, had been highly agreeable; nor was he by any means desirous, as most people are, of kicking away the ladder that had perhaps helped him to reach his present elevation.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	connection	connection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	nsubj	_	_
10	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
16	highly	highly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	20	cc	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	nsubj	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	obl	_	_
24	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
25	desirous	desirous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
28	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	29	amod	_	_
29	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
30	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	kicking	kick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
34	away	away	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
39	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	ccomp	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	elevation	elevation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the connection with myself |  |  |  |  | enough, kind *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the connection with myself *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | agreeable, highly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **mean** | present | kind |  |  |  |  | desirous *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **kick away** | present · progressive | most people | the ladder |  |  |  | away *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent ladder=Patient |
| 6 | **have** | past | the ladder |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **help** | past | the ladder *not said here* | name |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 8 | **reach** | to-infinitive | name *not said here* | name's present elevation |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent elevation=Theme |
| 9 | **elevate** |  | name |  |  |  |  |  | nom elevation «event 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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