---
title: Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it w… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was yet time for him to go to Athens; and still his mother pointed to the rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong enough to move it. Who acts: Theseus, permission, mother. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» b
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 1, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was yet time for him to go to Athens; and still his mother pointed to the rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong enough to move it.

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**Who acts:** Theseus, permission, mother · **What happens:** ask, be, go, point, tell, come · **To what, where:** mother, time, Athens, rock, that, Theseus · **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 (Theseus, permission, mother), 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:pg976:3:28
# text = Often and often, after this, did Theseus ask his mother whether it was yet time for him to go to Athens; and still his mother pointed to the rock, and told him that, for years to come, he could not be strong enough to move it.
1	Often	often	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	often	often	ADV	RB	_	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
8	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	Theseus	Theseus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
18	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	Athens	Athens	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	still	still	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	pointed	point	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	iobj	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
45	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
46	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	48	advmod	_	_
47	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	cop	_	_
48	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	_
49	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	advcl	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · do-support | Theseus |  | Theseus's mother |  |  | often *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent mother=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | permission | time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | to-infinitive | Theseus |  |  | Athens |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to athens=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **point** | past | Theseus's mother |  | the rock |  | still |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to rock=Recipient |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Theseus's mother *not said here* | that | Theseus |  | year |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient that=Topic |
| 6 | **come** | to-infinitive | Theseus's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **is** | could | Theseus |  |  |  |  | enough, strong *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **move** | to-infinitive | Theseus *not said here* | permission |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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