---
title: But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things i… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he began to relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the childish purity of his auditors. Who acts: Eustace, myths, world. A sentence of «Tanglewood Ta
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Wayside. Introductory., sentence 45

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But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he began to relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the childish purity of his auditors.

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**Who acts:** Eustace, myths, world · **What happens:** tell, be, begin, relate, adapt · **To what, where:** me, singular things, world, one, childish purity · **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 (Eustace, myths, world), 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:pg976:2:45
# text = But Eustace told me that these myths were the most singular things in the world, and that he was invariably astonished, whenever he began to relate one, by the readiness with which it adapted itself to the childish purity of his auditors.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Eustace	Eustace	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	myths	myth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	11	advmod	_	_
11	singular	singular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	invariably	invariably	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	astonished	astonished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	26	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	relate	relate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	readiness	readiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obl	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	adapted	adapt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
38	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	37	obj	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	childish	childish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	purity	purity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	auditors	auditor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Eustace |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this myths | the singular things |  | the world |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | Eustace |  |  |  |  | astonished, invariably *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **begin** | past | Eustace |  |  |  |  | whenever *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **relate** | to-infinitive | Eustace *not said here* | one |  |  |  | by the readiness | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 6 | **adapt** | past | world | world |  |  |  | to the childish purity of Eustace's auditors *goal*; with the readiness | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent itself=Patient to purity=Goal |

<!-- .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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