---
title: And Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch of the silken cord; for all through the terrible encounter, he had held it fast in his left hand. Who acts: Theseus. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 4, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 4, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch of the silken cord; for all through the terrible encounter, he had held it fast in his left hand.

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**Who acts:** Theseus · **What happens:** learn, take, feel, hold, twitch · **To what, where:** sword, breath, twitch, left hand, silken cord

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Theseus), 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:pg976:6:52
# text = And Theseus, as he leaned on his sword, taking breath, felt another twitch of the silken cord; for all through the terrible encounter, he had held it fast in his left hand.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	Theseus	Theseus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	leaned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
12	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
15	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	twitch	twitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	silken	silken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	all	all	ADV	RB	_	27	obl	_	_
24	through	through	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	encounter	encounter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	acl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past | Theseus |  |  | Theseus's sword |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **take** | gerund | Theseus *not said here* | breath |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme |
| 3 | **feel** | past | Theseus *not said here* | another twitch of the silken cord |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent twitch=Theme |
| 4 | **hold** | past · perfect | Theseus | twitch |  | Theseus's left hand |  | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in hand=Location |
| 5 | **twitch** |  |  | the silken cord |  |  |  |  | nom twitch «state 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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