--- title: But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a pretty large s… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin from his body. Who acts: dragon, pretty large serpent, I, view. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawth --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/27/88/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/27/) / 88 # Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 3, sentence 88 But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin from his body. **Who acts:** dragon, pretty large serpent, I, view, my · **What happens:** be, not be, snap up, cut off, strip, view · **To what, where:** pretty large serpent, half, me, one mouthful, ugly head, skin 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 (dragon, pretty large serpent, I, view), 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:pg976:27:88 # text = But, in my view of the matter, the dragon is merely a pretty large serpent, who is not half so likely to snap me up at one mouthful as I am to cut off his ugly head, and strip the skin from his body. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 view view NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 12 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 13 merely merely ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 15 pretty pretty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 16 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 serpent serpent NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 22 nsubj _ _ 20 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 22 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 17 parataxis _ _ 23 so so ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 likely likely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 nmod _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 snap snap VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ _ 27 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ _ 28 up up ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ _ 29 at at ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 31 nummod _ _ 31 mouthful mouthful NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 32 as as SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 33 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 34 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 cut cut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 advcl _ _ 37 off off ADP RP _ 36 compound:prt _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 39 ugly ugly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 strip strip VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 skin skin NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ _ 46 from from ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 43 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | the dragon | a pretty large serpent | | | | merely *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **is a** | present | a pretty large serpent | half | | | | likely *nmod* | tree rules | | 3 | **snap up** | to-infinitive | a pretty large serpent *not said here* | me | | one mouthful | | | tree rules | | 4 | **cut off** | present | I | dragon's ugly head | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | | 5 | **strip** | infinitive | my view of the matter and a pretty large serpent | the skin | | dragon's body | | | vn cheat-10.6.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent skin=Theme from body=Source | | 6 | **view** | | my | the matter | | | | | nom view «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=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 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/27/87/) - next →: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/27/89/) - ↑ back to [The Golden Fleece., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/27/)