---
title: According to their account, the tree on which it hung was guarded by… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: According to their account, the tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed to devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his reach. Who acts: account, terrible dragon, person, princes. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Gold
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 3, sentence 81

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
According to their account, the tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed to devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his reach.

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**Who acts:** account, terrible dragon, person, princes · **What happens:** accord, hang, guard, not fail, devour, venture · **To what, where:** account, tree, one mouthful

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., 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 (account, terrible dragon, person, princes), 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:pg976:27:81
# text = According to their account, the tree on which it hung was guarded by a terrible dragon, who never failed to devour, at one mouthful, every person who might venture within his reach.
1	According	accord	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	csubj	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	guarded	guard	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
20	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	devour	devour	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	mouthful	mouthful	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	det	_	_
30	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	appos	_	_
31	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
32	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	venture	venture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl:relcl	_	_
34	within	within	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	reach	reach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to princes's account *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to account=Goal |
| 2 | **hang** | past | account |  |  | the tree |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on which=Location |
| 3 | **guard** | past · passive | a terrible dragon | the tree |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **not** **fail** | past | a terrible dragon |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **devour** | to-infinitive | a terrible dragon *not said here* | one mouthful |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouthful=Patient |
| 6 | **venture** | might | every person |  |  |  |  | within person's reach | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **account** |  | princes *= prince* |  |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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