--- title: Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since Jason h… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way save to tell him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his worst enemy in his power. Who acts: Jason. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorn --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/26/46/) [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 Golden Fleece., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/26/) / 46 # Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 2, sentence 46 Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way save to tell him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his worst enemy in his power. **Who acts:** Jason · **What happens:** choose, ask, promise, be, tell, do · **To what, where:** king, question, answer, Jason, prudent thing, worst enemy · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., 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 (Jason), 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:pg976:26:46 # text = Since the king had chosen to ask him the question, and since Jason had promised him an answer, there was no right way save to tell him precisely what would be the most prudent thing to do, if he had his worst enemy in his power. 1 Since since SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj:pass _ _ 4 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 chosen choose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 advcl _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 advcl _ _ 8 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 obj _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 13 since since ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 Jason Jason PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 15 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 promised promise VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 5 parataxis _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 iobj _ _ 18 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 answer answer NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 22 expl _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 23 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 25 det _ _ 24 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl:unmarked _ _ 26 save save VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 28 mark _ _ 28 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 29 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 iobj _ _ 30 precisely precisely ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 31 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 37 nsubj _ _ 32 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 33 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 37 cop _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 35 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 36 advmod _ _ 36 prudent prudent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 ccomp _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 if if SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 42 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 parataxis _ _ 44 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 45 worst bad ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 46 amod _ _ 46 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ _ 47 in in ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 49 nmod:poss _ _ 49 power power NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 26 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **choose** | past · perfect · passive | | the king | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | | the question | king | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past · perfect | | a answer | Jason | | since Jason | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent he=Goal answer=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | | | | | | no right way *obl:unmarked*; save *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | | | Jason | | | precisely *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 6 | **is a** | would | | the prudent thing | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **do** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Jason | Jason's worst enemy | | Jason's power | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent enemy=Patient | 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 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/26/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/26/47/) - ↑ back to [The Golden Fleece., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/26/)