---
title: According to some stories, she was in the habit of boiling old peopl… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: According to some stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, under pretense of making them young again; but King Aegeus, I suppose, did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was contented to be old, and therefore would never let himself be popp
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 1, sentence 107

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According to some stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, under pretense of making them young again; but King Aegeus, I suppose, did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was contented to be old, and therefore would never let himself be popped into the caldron.

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**Who acts:** Medea, pretense, I, uncomfortable way, Aegeus · **What happens:** accord, be, make, suppose, not fancy, grow · **To what, where:** stories, people, uncomfortable way, Aegeus, caldron · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Medea, pretense, I, uncomfortable way), 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:pg976:3:107
# text = According to some stories, she was in the habit of boiling old people in a large caldron, under pretense of making them young again; but King Aegeus, I suppose, did not fancy such an uncomfortable way of growing young, or perhaps was contented to be old, and therefore would never let himself be popped into the caldron.
1	According	accord	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	case	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	habit	habit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	boiling	boiling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	caldron	caldron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	under	under	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	pretense	pretense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
22	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	acl	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	xcomp	_	_
26	again	again	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	Aegeus	Aegeus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
37	fancy	fancy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	ccomp	_	_
38	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	41	det:predet	_	_
39	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	uncomfortable	uncomfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
42	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
43	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	41	acl	_	_
44	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	contented	content	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	parataxis	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	cop	_	_
52	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
56	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
58	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
59	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	58	obj	_	_
60	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	aux:pass	_	_
61	popped	pop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	xcomp	_	_
62	into	into	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	caldron	caldron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to some stories *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to story=Goal |
| 2 | **is** | past | Medea |  |  |  |  | accord the habit and pretense; of old people in a large caldron | tree rules |
| 3 | **make** | gerund | pretense *not said here* | people |  |  |  | young *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product |
| 4 | **suppose** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **fancy** | past · do-support |  | such uncomfortable way |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **grow** | gerund | such uncomfortable way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | young *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **content** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 8 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **not** **let** | would | I *not said here* | Aegeus |  |  |  | therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **pop** | infinitive · passive | Aegeus *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the caldron *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: into caldron=Result |

<!-- .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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