--- title: Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, as his custom wa… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a somerset. Who acts: custom, Talus, sea, icebe --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/6/81/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Tanglewood Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/) / [The Minotaur., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/6/) / 81 # Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 4, sentence 81 Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a somerset. **Who acts:** custom, Talus, sea, iceberg · **What happens:** straddle, be, attempt, strike, overreach, tumble · **To what, where:** headland, blow, vessel, Talus, full length, gigantic shape 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 (custom, Talus, sea, iceberg), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg976:6:81 # text = Nevertheless, straddling from headland to headland, as his custom was, Talus attempted to strike a blow at the vessel, and, overreaching himself, tumbled at full length into the sea, which splashed high over his gigantic shape, as when an iceberg turns a somerset. 1 Nevertheless nevertheless ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 3 straddling straddle VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 from from ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 headland headland NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 6 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 headland headland NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 as as SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 custom custom NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ _ 12 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 14 Talus Talus PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 attempted attempt VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 strike strike VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 blow blow NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 20 at at ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 vessel vessel NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 26 overreaching overreach VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 27 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 29 tumbled tumble VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 conj _ _ 30 at at ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 full full ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 length length NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 33 into into ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 38 nsubj _ _ 38 splashed splash VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 acl:relcl _ _ 39 high high ADV RB Degree=Pos 38 advmod _ _ 40 over over ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 41 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 42 gigantic gigantic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 shape shape NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 45 as as SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 46 when when SCONJ WRB _ 49 mark _ _ 47 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 iceberg iceberg NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 nsubj _ _ 49 turns turn VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 50 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 somerset somerset NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **straddle** | gerund | | | | headland | | to headland; nevertheless *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **be** | past | Talus's custom | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **attempt** | past | Talus | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **strike** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Talus *not said here* | a blow | | the vessel | | | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Patient | | 5 | **overreach** | gerund | Talus *not said here* | Talus | | | | | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot himself=Theme | | 6 | **tumble** | participle | Talus *not said here* | | | full length | | into the sea | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into sea=Initial\_Location | | 7 | **splash** | past | the sea | | | Talus's gigantic shape | | high *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over shape=Location | | 8 | **turn** | present | a iceberg | a somerset | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent somerset=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/6/80/) - next →: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/6/82/) - ↑ back to [The Minotaur., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/6/)