---
title: There was something, he knew not what, either in his white brow, or… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was something, he knew not what, either in his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had seen this youth before; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee when a baby, and had beheld him growing to 
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 2, sentence 30

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There was something, he knew not what, either in his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had seen this youth before; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee when a baby, and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man, while he himself grew old.

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**Who acts:** king, that · **What happens:** not know, make, feel, see, trot, be · **To what, where:** king, youth, stranger, knee, stalwart man

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, that), 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:pg976:4:30
# text = There was something, he knew not what, either in his white brow, or in the fine expression of his mouth, or in his beautiful and tender eyes, that made him indistinctly feel as if he had seen this youth before; as if, indeed, he had trotted him on his knee when a baby, and had beheld him growing to be a stalwart man, while he himself grew old.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc:preconj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	brow	brow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
28	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	tender	tender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	conj	_	_
31	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
34	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl:relcl	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	indistinctly	indistinctly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	feel	feel	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	ccomp	_	_
38	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
39	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	37	advcl	_	_
43	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	44	det	_	_
44	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	before	before	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
47	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
48	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
50	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	54	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	trotted	trot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
55	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	on	on	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
59	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	61	mark	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
63	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
64	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	aux	_	_
65	beheld	behold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
66	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	obj	_	_
67	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	65	advcl	_	_
68	to	to	PART	TO	_	72	mark	_	_
69	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	72	cop	_	_
70	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
71	stalwart	stalwart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	compound	_	_
72	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
74	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	77	mark	_	_
75	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	77	nsubj	_	_
76	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	75	nmod:unmarked	_	_
77	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	conj	_	_
78	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	77	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	65	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 2 | **make** | past | that | king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **feel** | present | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  | indistinctly *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **see** | past · perfect | king | this youth |  |  |  | before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer youth=Stimulus |
| 5 | **trot** | past · perfect | king | stranger |  | king's knee |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent he=Theme on knee=Trajectory |
| 6 | **is** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | behold *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **grow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | a stalwart man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **grow** | past | king |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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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