---
title: The torchlight seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The torchlight seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met, along the road, could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away, without waiting for
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/22/30/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/22/) / 30

# Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 3, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The torchlight seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met, along the road, could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away, without waiting for a second glance.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** torchlight, people · **What happens:** seem, make, meet, not see, catch, think · **To what, where:** gloom, people, figures, glimpse, Hecate

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (torchlight, people), 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:pg976:22:30
# text = The torchlight seemed to make a gloom; so that the people whom they met, along the road, could not very distinctly see their figures; and, indeed, if they once caught a glimpse of Hecate, with the wreath of snakes round her forehead, they generally thought it prudent to run away, without waiting for a second glance.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	torchlight	torchlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gloom	gloom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	_
9	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
13	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	along	along	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
23	very	very	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	distinctly	distinctly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	advcl	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	36	advmod	_	_
36	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	glimpse	glimpse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	Hecate	Hecate	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	wreath	wreath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nmod	_	_
47	round	round	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	prudent	prudent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	xcomp	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
58	away	away	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
60	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
61	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	53	advcl	_	_
62	for	for	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
64	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	65	amod	_	_
65	glance	glance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the torchlight |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | the torchlight *not said here* | a gloom |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset gloom=Product |
| 3 | **meet** | past | people | the people |  |  |  | along the road | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **not** **see** | could | the people | people's figures |  |  |  | distinctly, indeed *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer figure=Stimulus |
| 5 | **catch** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | people | a glimpse of Hecate |  |  |  | with the wreath of snakes round Hecate's forehead; once *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent glimpse=Theme |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | people | glimpse |  |  |  | generally, prudent *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 7 | **run away** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **wait** | gerund | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a second glance | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **figure** |  | people |  |  |  |  |  | nom figure «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 10 | **glimpse** |  |  | Hecate |  |  |  |  | nom glimpse «act 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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/22/29/)
- next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/22/31/)
- ↑ back to [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/22/)