---
title: Never in her life had she beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy-looki… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Never in her life had she beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy-looking a stream; its waters reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other. Who ac
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 2, sentence 12

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Never in her life had she beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy-looking a stream; its waters reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other.

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**Who acts:** stream, waters, life · **What happens:** not have, behold, look, reflect, be, move · **To what, where:** stream, life, images, banks, one way, anything

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stream, waters, life), 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:pg976:21:12
# text = Never in her life had she beheld so torpid, so black, so muddy-looking a stream; its waters reflected no images of anything that was on the banks, and it moved as sluggishly as if it had quite forgotten which way it ought to flow, and had rather stagnate than flow either one way or the other.
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	beheld	behold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	xcomp	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	torpid	torpid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	muddy	muddy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	parataxis	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	reflected	reflect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
24	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	25	det	_	_
25	images	image	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	25	nmod	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	banks	bank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
37	as	as	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	sluggishly	sluggishly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	_
39	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
40	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	advcl	_	_
45	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	46	det	_	_
46	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl:unmarked	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
55	stagnate	stagnate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
56	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
57	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
58	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc:preconj	_	_
59	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	60	nummod	_	_
60	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
61	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | past |  | stream |  | stream's life |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **behold** | participle | stream *not said here* |  |  |  |  | torpid *property* | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **look** | gerund |  | a stream |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stream=Attribute |
| 4 | **reflect** | past | life's waters | no images of anything |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  | the banks |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **move** | past | life |  |  |  |  | sluggishly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **forget** | past · perfect · passive |  | life |  |  |  | which way *obl:unmarked* | tree rules |
| 8 | **flow** | ought | life |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **stagnate** | past | life's waters *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **flow** | infinitive | life's waters *not said here* | one way |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location way=Theme |
| 11 | **image** |  |  | anything |  |  |  |  | nom image «cognition transitive»: of=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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