---
title: There seemed nothing else to be expected but that, the next moment,… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There seemed nothing else to be expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding how many innocent people he might destroy; for there is seldom any mercy in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piec
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 3, sentence 43

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There seemed nothing else to be expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding how many innocent people he might destroy; for there is seldom any mercy in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork.

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**Who acts:** next moment, foaming, mercy, you · **What happens:** seem, expect, fetch down, smash, heed, destroy · **To what, where:** nothing, that, great club, vessel, thousand pieces, many innocent people

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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 (next moment, foaming, mercy, you), 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:pg976:5:43
# text = There seemed nothing else to be expected but that, the next moment, he would fetch his great club down, slam bang, and smash the vessel into a thousand pieces, without heeding how many innocent people he might destroy; for there is seldom any mercy in a giant, you know, and quite as little in a piece of brass clockwork.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	obj	_	_
4	else	else	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
19	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	club	club	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	slam	slam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	bang	bang	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	smash	smash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
33	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
36	heeding	heed	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
37	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	38	advmod	_	_
38	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
39	innocent	innocent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
45	for	for	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	47	expl	_	_
47	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	56	advcl	_	_
48	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
49	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	50	det	_	_
50	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
55	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
59	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
60	as	as	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
61	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	conj	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	brass	brass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	compound	_	_
67	clockwork	clockwork	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past |  | nothing |  | there |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme nothing=Attribute |
| 2 | **expect** | to-infinitive · passive |  | that |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: that=Theme |
| 3 | **fetch down** | would | the next moment | foaming's great club |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent club=Theme |
| 4 | **smash** | infinitive | the next moment *not said here* | the vessel |  | thousand pieces |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent vessel=Theme into piece=Destination |
| 5 | **heed** | gerund | the next moment *not said here* | many innocent people |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme |
| 6 | **destroy** | might | foaming | many innocent people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |
| 7 | **be** | present | any mercy in a giant |  |  | there |  | seldom *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **know** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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