---
title: But, partly through his infirmities, and partly because it seemed so… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But, partly through his infirmities, and partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his heart was wiser than his head, and quaked within him at the thought of what he was going to do--for all these reasons, th
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 2, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But, partly through his infirmities, and partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his heart was wiser than his head, and quaked within him at the thought of what he was going to do--for all these reasons, the king's hand trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over.

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**Who acts:** it, Theseus, heart, hand, great deal · **What happens:** seem, take away, be, quake, go, do · **To what, where:** thing, life, wine

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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 (it, Theseus, heart, hand), 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:pg976:4:40
# text = But, partly through his infirmities, and partly because it seemed so sad a thing to take away this young man's life, however wicked he might be, and partly, no doubt, because his heart was wiser than his head, and quaked within him at the thought of what he was going to do--for all these reasons, the king's hand trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
3	partly	partly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	infirmities	infirmity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	partly	partly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
19	away	away	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
21	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	's	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	however	however	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	partly	partly	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	36	det	_	_
36	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
42	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	parataxis	_	_
43	than	than	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	quaked	quake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
49	within	within	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obl	_	_
51	at	at	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	53	nmod	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	55	acl:relcl	_	_
59	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
60	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	for	for	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	65	det:predet	_	_
64	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	65	det	_	_
65	reasons	reason	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	71	punct	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	's	's	PART	POS	_	68	case	_	_
70	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	nsubj	_	_
71	trembled	tremble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	conj	_	_
72	so	so	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
73	much	much	ADV	RB	_	71	advmod	_	_
74	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	81	mark	_	_
75	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
76	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	77	amod	_	_
77	deal	deal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	nsubj	_	_
78	of	of	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	wine	wine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	nmod	_	_
81	slopped	slop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	71	advcl	_	_
82	over	over	ADV	RB	_	81	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | it | a thing |  |  |  | no doubt *obl*; partly, sad *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme thing=Attribute |
| 2 | **take away** | to-infinitive |  | this young man's life |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |
| 3 | **be** | might | Theseus |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | Theseus's heart |  |  |  |  | than Theseus's head; wise *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **quake** | past |  |  |  |  |  | within Theseus; at the thought | vn body\_internal\_states-40.6 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer at thought=Stimulus |
| 6 | **go** | past · progressive | Theseus |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **do** | to-infinitive | Theseus *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **tremble** | past | the king's hand |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **slop over** | past | a great deal of the wine |  |  |  |  | over *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |
| 10 | **deal** |  |  | the wine |  |  |  |  | nom deal «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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