--- title: But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits the sharpes… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had been taking a sly nibble of something or other. Who acts: Quicksilver, anybody, wits, child. A sentence --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/24/13/) [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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/24/) / 13 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 5, sentence 13 But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had been taking a sly nibble of something or other. **Who acts:** Quicksilver, anybody, wits, child, Proserpina · **What happens:** be, have, perceive, see, suspect, take · **To what, where:** wits, empty salver, sly nibble This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Quicksilver, anybody, wits, child), 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:pg976:24:13 # text = But Quicksilver (whose eyes were very keen, and his wits the sharpest that ever anybody had) perceived that the child was a little confused; and seeing the empty salver, he suspected that she had been taking a sly nibble of something or other. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 Quicksilver quicksilver NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 3 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 6 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 very very ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 keen keen ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 wits wit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nsubj _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 sharpest sharp ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 12 nmod _ _ 15 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 18 obj _ _ 16 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 17 advmod _ _ 17 anybody anybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 18 nsubj _ _ 18 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 12 punct _ _ 20 perceived perceive VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 21 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 obl:unmarked _ _ 27 confused confused ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 36 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 30 seeing see VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 advcl _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 empty empty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 salver salver NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 suspected suspect VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 37 that that SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 38 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 39 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 40 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 41 aux _ _ 41 taking take VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 advcl _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 sly sly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 nibble nibble NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 44 nmod _ _ 47 or or CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | Quicksilver | | | | | keen *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **have** | past | anybody | Quicksilver's wits the sharpest | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient | | 3 | **perceive** | past | Quicksilver's wits the sharpest | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **is** | past | the child | | | | | a little *obl:unmarked*; confused *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **see** | gerund | child *not said here* | the empty salver | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer salver=Stimulus | | 6 | **suspect** | past | child | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **take** | past · perfect · progressive | Proserpina | a sly nibble of something | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nibble=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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/24/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/24/14/) - ↑ back to [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/24/)