--- title: If there were time to spare from more important matters, I should be… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: If there were time to spare from more important matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing among the clouds. Who acts: time, I. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/108/) [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 Minotaur., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/) / 108 # Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 1, sentence 108 If there were time to spare from more important matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing among the clouds. **Who acts:** time, I · **What happens:** be, spare, tell, draw, wing, use · **To what, where:** more important matters, you, enchantress, fiery chariot, airing · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (time, I), 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:pg976:3:108 # text = If there were time to spare from more important matters, I should be glad to tell you of Medea's fiery chariot, drawn by winged dragons, in which the enchantress used often to take an airing among the clouds. 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 2 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 3 expl _ _ 3 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 advcl _ _ 4 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 spare spare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 acl _ _ 7 from from ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 8 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 10 amod _ _ 9 important important ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 matters matter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 12 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 14 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 15 cop _ _ 15 glad glad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 17 iobj _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 Medea Medea PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 21 's 's PART POS _ 20 case _ _ 22 fiery fiery ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 chariot chariot NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 25 drawn draw VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 23 acl _ _ 26 by by ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 winged wing VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 28 amod _ _ 28 dragons dragon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 in in ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 31 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 enchantress enchantress NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 34 used use VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 acl _ _ 35 often often ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 advcl _ _ 38 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 airing airing NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 among among ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 clouds cloud NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 15 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | time | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **spare** | to-infinitive | time *not said here* | | | more important matters | | | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **is** | should | I | | | | | glad *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | you | the enchantress | | of Medea's fiery chariot | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 5 | **draw** | participle | | Medea's fiery chariot *not said here* | | | | by winged dragons | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **wing** | participle | | | | | | | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **use** | participle | | the enchantress *not said here* | | | | often *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **take** | to-infinitive | | a airing | | | | among the clouds | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent airing=Theme | 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 107](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/107/) - next →: [sentence 109](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/109/) - ↑ back to [The Minotaur., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/)