---
title: As they approached the entrance of the port, the giant straddled cle… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: As they approached the entrance of the port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on each headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt-end was hidden in the cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun gleaming all over his metallic surface. 
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 3, sentence 42

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As they approached the entrance of the port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on each headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt-end was hidden in the cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun gleaming all over his metallic surface.

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**Who acts:** rocks, foaming, sun · **What happens:** approach, straddle, plant, uplift, hide, stand · **To what, where:** entrance, giant foot, headland, club, butt end, cloud

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rocks, foaming, sun), 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:pg976:5:42
# text = As they approached the entrance of the port, the giant straddled clear across it, with a foot firmly planted on each headland, and uplifting his club to such a height that its butt-end was hidden in the cloud, he stood in that formidable posture, with the sun gleaming all over his metallic surface.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	entrance	entrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	port	port	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
11	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
12	straddled	straddle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	parataxis	_	_
13	clear	clear	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	across	across	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
20	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	planted	plant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
24	headland	headland	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	uplifting	uplift	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	club	club	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	33	det:predet	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	height	height	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
35	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
36	butt	butt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	advcl	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	50	det	_	_
49	formidable	formidable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	posture	posture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
55	gleaming	gleam	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
56	all	all	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
57	over	over	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
59	metallic	metallic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	46	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | rocks *= rock* | the entrance of the port and the giant foot |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent entrance=Theme |
| 2 | **straddle** | participle |  |  |  | entrance |  | clear *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **plant** | participle |  | the giant foot *not said here* |  | each headland |  | firmly *property* | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on headland=Destination |
| 4 | **uplift** | gerund | rocks *= rock* *not said here* | foaming's club |  |  |  | to such height | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus club=Experiencer |
| 5 | **hide** | past · passive |  | entrance's butt end |  | the cloud |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient in cloud=Location |
| 6 | **stand** | past | foaming |  |  | that formidable posture |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in posture=Location |
| 7 | **gleam** | gerund | the sun |  |  | foaming's metallic surface |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over surface=Location |

<!-- .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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