---
title: You must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: You must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus grown aged before his time. Who acts: You, government. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 1, with its dependency tree
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 1, sentence 91

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus grown aged before his time.

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**Who acts:** You, government · **What happens:** understand, wear out, grow, age, care · **To what, where:** father

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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 (You, government), 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:pg976:3:91
# text = You must understand that the father of Theseus, though not very old in years, was almost worn out with the cares of government, and had thus grown aged before his time.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Theseus	Theseus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
18	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cares	care	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
31	aged	age	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	xcomp	_	_
32	before	before	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | must | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **wear out** | past · passive |  | the father of Theseus |  |  |  | with the cares of government; almost *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: subject=Source |
| 3 | **grow** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **age** | participle |  |  |  |  | time |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **care** |  | government |  |  |  |  |  | nom care «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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