--- title: The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked,… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked, until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not. Who acts: Proserpina, shrub, beauty, words. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Haw --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/20/35/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Tanglewood Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/) / [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/20/) / 35 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 1, sentence 35 The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked, until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not. **Who acts:** Proserpina, shrub, beauty, words · **What happens:** approach, look, come, be, tell, know · **To what, where:** shrub, beauty · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, shrub, beauty, words), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg976:20:35 # text = The nearer she approached the shrub, the more attractive it looked, until she came quite close to it; and then, although its beauty was richer than words can tell, she hardly knew whether to like it or not. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 nearer near ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 4 advmod _ _ 3 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 approached approach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 shrub shrub NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 10 advmod _ _ 10 attractive attractive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 until until SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 15 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 17 quite quite ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 close close ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 xcomp _ _ 19 to to ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 23 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 29 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 25 although although SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 26 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 beauty beauty NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 28 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 cop _ _ 29 richer rich ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 4 conj _ _ 30 than than SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 31 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 32 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 33 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 hardly hardly ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 37 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 ccomp _ _ 38 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 like like VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 ccomp _ _ 41 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 or or CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **approach** | past | Proserpina | the shrub | | | | | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shrub=Theme | | 2 | **look** | past | shrub | | | | | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 3 | **come** | past | Proserpina | | | | | close *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | shrub's beauty | | | | then | rich *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | words | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **know** | past | Proserpina | | | | | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 7 | **like** | to-infinitive | | beauty | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/20/34/) - next →: [sentence 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/20/36/) - ↑ back to [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/20/)