--- title: Never, while I can wield this sword, of which I now fling away the s… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Never, while I can wield this sword, of which I now fling away the scabbard--never, never, never, even if the crimson hand that slew the great Antaeus shall lay me prostrate, like him, on the soil which I give my life to defend." Who acts: I, crimson hand, great Antaeus. A sentence of «Tanglewood Ta --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/9/32/) [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 Pygmies., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/9/) / 32 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 3, sentence 32 Never, while I can wield this sword, of which I now fling away the scabbard--never, never, never, even if the crimson hand that slew the great Antaeus shall lay me prostrate, like him, on the soil which I give my life to defend." **Who acts:** I, crimson hand, great Antaeus · **What happens:** not wield, fling away, not slay, lay, give, defend · **To what, where:** sword, scabbard, me, soil This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pygmies., 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 (I, crimson hand, great Antaeus), 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:pg976:9:32 # text = Never, while I can wield this sword, of which I now fling away the scabbard--never, never, never, even if the crimson hand that slew the great Antaeus shall lay me prostrate, like him, on the soil which I give my life to defend." 1 Never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 6 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 while while SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 4 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 5 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 6 wield wield VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 7 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 8 det _ _ 8 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 14 obl _ _ 12 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 13 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 14 advmod _ _ 14 fling fling VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 15 away away ADP RP _ 14 compound:prt _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 scabbard scabbard NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 -- -- PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 19 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 21 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 23 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 25 even even ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 26 if if SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 crimson crimson ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 30 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 31 nsubj _ _ 31 slew slay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 Antaeus Antaeus PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 35 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 lay lay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 37 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 prostrate prostrate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 like like ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 43 on on ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 soil soil NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 46 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 48 obj _ _ 47 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 48 give give VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 acl:relcl _ _ 49 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obj _ _ 51 to to PART TO _ 52 mark _ _ 52 defend defend VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 54 " " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **wield** | can | I | this sword | | | | | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 2 | **fling away** | present | I | the scabbard | | | now | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent scabbard=Theme of which=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **not** **slay** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the crimson hand | | | | | | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **lay** | shall | the great Antaeus | me | | the soil | | prostrate *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent i=Theme on soil=Destination | | 5 | **give** | present | I | the soil | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent which=Recipient life=Theme | | 6 | **defend** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn defend-72.3 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent | 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 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/9/31/) - next →: [sentence 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/9/33/) - ↑ back to [The Pygmies., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/9/)