---
title: They are an unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's tee… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They are an unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand. Who acts: bulls, you. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/28/24/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/28/) / 24

# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 4, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are an unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bulls, you · **What happens:** be, treat, fall, sword · **To what, where:** unruly set, bulls, hand

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bulls, you), 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:pg976:28:24
# text = They are an unruly set of reprobates, those sons of the dragon's teeth; and unless you treat them suitably, they will fall upon you sword in hand.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	unruly	unruly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	set	set	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	reprobates	reprobate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	appos	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
18	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	treat	treat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	suitably	suitably	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
27	upon	upon	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sword	sword	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | bulls *= bull* | a unruly set |  |  |  | of reprobates | tree rules |
| 2 | **treat** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | bulls *= bull* |  |  |  | suitably *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 3 | **fall** | future | bulls *= bull* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sword** | present | you |  |  | hand |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/28/23/)
- next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/28/25/)
- ↑ back to [The Golden Fleece., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/28/)