---
title: Two or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuf… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Two or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther. Who acts: Proserpina. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranat
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 1, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther.

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**Who acts:** Proserpina · **What happens:** not help, think, sprout, tempt · **To what, where:** tuft, earth, Proserpina, purpose · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Proserpina), 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:pg976:20:28
# text = Two or three times, moreover, she could not help thinking that a tuft of most splendid flowers had suddenly sprouted out of the earth before her very eyes, as if on purpose to tempt her a few steps farther.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
4	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	moreover	moreover	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	xcomp	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tuft	tuft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	amod	_	_
18	splendid	splendid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	sprouted	sprout	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	ccomp	_	_
23	out	out	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	before	before	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	very	very	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	tempt	tempt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl:unmarked	_	_
42	farther	far	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **help** | could | Proserpina |  |  |  |  | moreover *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | gerund | Proserpina *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **sprout** | past · perfect · passive |  | a tuft of most splendid flowers |  | the earth before Proserpina's eyes |  | suddenly *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Source |
| 4 | **tempt** *a condition, not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Proserpina *not said here* |  | Proserpina | purpose |  | far *property* | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |

<!-- .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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