--- title: He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to understand, it is a… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to understand, it is a fixed law, that when persons are carried off to the land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get back to their friends. Who acts: sort, you, motive, persons. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawt --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/21/39/) [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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/21/) / 39 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 2, sentence 39 He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to understand, it is a fixed law, that when persons are carried off to the land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get back to their friends. **Who acts:** sort, you, motive, persons · **What happens:** have, be, fix, carry off, taste, not get back · **To what, where:** secret motive, this, fixed law, that, land, food 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 (sort, you, motive, persons), 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:pg976:21:39 # text = He had a secret motive in this; for, you are to understand, it is a fixed law, that when persons are carried off to the land of magic, if they once taste any food there, they can never get back to their friends. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 secret secret ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 motive motive NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ; ; PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 9 for for SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 11 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 16 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 17 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 fixed fix VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 amod _ _ 20 law law NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 26 nsubj:pass _ _ 23 when when SCONJ WRB _ 26 mark _ _ 24 persons person NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nsubj:pass _ _ 25 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux:pass _ _ 26 carried carry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 parataxis _ _ 27 off off ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ _ 28 to to ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 magic magic NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 if if SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 35 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 37 advmod _ _ 37 taste taste VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 38 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 39 det _ _ 39 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 37 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 43 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 45 advmod _ _ 45 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 parataxis _ _ 46 back back ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 47 to to ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 49 nmod:poss _ _ 49 friends friend NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | sort | a secret motive | | this | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent motive=Patient | | 2 | **is** | present | you | | | | | understand *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **fix** | participle | | | | | | | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **is a** | present | motive | a fixed law | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **carry off** | present · passive | | that | | the land of magic | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to land=Destination | | 6 | **taste** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | persons *= person* | any food | | there | | once *property* | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme food=Attribute | | 7 | **not** **get back** | can | persons *= person* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | 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 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/21/38/) - next →: [sentence 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/21/40/) - ↑ back to [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/21/)