---
title: In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood were perfectly still. Who acts: leaves, gentle breeze, other trees. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 2, sentence 66

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In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood were perfectly still.

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**Who acts:** leaves, gentle breeze, other trees · **What happens:** begin, stir, rustle, wonder, be

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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 (leaves, gentle breeze, other trees), 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:pg976:26:66
# text = In a moment or two, however, the leaves of the oak began to stir and rustle, as if a gentle breeze were wandering amongst them, although the other trees of the wood were perfectly still.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	however	however	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	oak	oak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	stir	stir	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	rustle	rustle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	gentle	gentle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	breeze	breeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	wandering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
27	amongst	amongst	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl	_	_
38	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	still	still	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the leaves of the oak |  |  |  | moment | however *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **stir** | to-infinitive | the leaves of the oak *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **rustle** | infinitive | the leaves of the oak *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · progressive | a gentle breeze |  |  |  |  | amongst leaves *= leaf*; although the other trees of the wood | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **be** | past | the other trees of the wood *not said here* |  |  |  | still |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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