---
title: These, you will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: These, you will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing their cuds. Who acts: These, breath, brazen bulls, nostrils. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 4, with
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 4, sentence 73

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These, you will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing their cuds.

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**Who acts:** These, breath, brazen bulls, nostrils · **What happens:** understand, cause, steal, lay, chew · **To what, where:** four nostrils, cuds · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (These, breath, brazen bulls, nostrils), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg976:28:73
# text = These, you will understand, were caused by the breath of the brazen bulls, which was quietly stealing out of their four nostrils, as they lay chewing their cuds.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj:outer	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	brazen	brazen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	bulls	bull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	stealing	steal	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	acl	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	nostrils	nostril	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
30	chewing	chew	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	xcomp	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	cuds	cud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | future | These |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **cause** | past · passive | the breath of the brazen bulls |  |  |  |  |  | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition |
| 3 | **steal** | past · progressive | the brazen bulls |  |  | bulls's four nostrils |  | quietly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out nostril=Location |
| 4 | **lay** | present | nostrils *= nostril* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **chew** | gerund | nostrils *= nostril* *not said here* | nostrils's cuds |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cud=Patient |

<!-- .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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