---
title: Evil had never yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Evil had never yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny realities; or, at most, but prophetic dreams to which the dreamer himself did not yield a waking credence. Who acts: mind, dreamer. A sentence of 
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Wayside. Introductory., sentence 50

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Evil had never yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny realities; or, at most, but prophetic dreams to which the dreamer himself did not yield a waking credence.

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**Who acts:** mind, dreamer · **What happens:** not exist, be, create, not yield, wake · **To what, where:** Evil, most, mere shadows, waking credence, prophetic dreams

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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 (mind, dreamer), 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:pg976:2:50
# text = Evil had never yet existed; and sorrow, misfortune, crime, were mere shadows which the mind fancifully created for itself, as a shelter against too sunny realities; or, at most, but prophetic dreams to which the dreamer himself did not yield a waking credence.
1	Evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	existed	exist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	crime	crime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	fancifully	fancifully	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	created	create	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	shelter	shelter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
28	against	against	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	too	too	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	sunny	sunny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	realities	reality	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
39	prophetic	prophetic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	dreams	dream	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	parataxis	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	48	obl	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	dreamer	dreamer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
45	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	44	nmod:unmarked	_	_
46	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	48	advmod	_	_
48	yield	yield	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	acl:relcl	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	waking	wake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	51	amod	_	_
51	credence	credence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **exist** | past · perfect · passive |  | Evil |  | most | yet | as a shelter against sunny realities; sorrow and misfortune and crime *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | mere shadows |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **create** | past | the mind | mere shadows |  |  |  | for mind; fancifully *property* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent which=Result for itself=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **not** **yield** | past · do-support | the dreamer  dreamer | a waking credence |  | prophetic dreams |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent credence=Theme to which=Goal |
| 5 | **wake** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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