--- title: Yet it was not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those bird-like d… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Yet it was not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those bird-like damsels who wanted to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, and our bones left whitening along the shore." Who acts: head, like damsels, bones, Sirens. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ci --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/16/49/) [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/) / [Circe's Palace., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/16/) / 49 # Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 2, sentence 49 Yet it was not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those bird-like damsels who wanted to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, and our bones left whitening along the shore." **Who acts:** head, like damsels, bones, Sirens · **What happens:** not be, want, tempt, wreck, leave, whiten · **To what, where:** us, rocks, vessel This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (head, like damsels, bones, Sirens), 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:pg976:16:49 # text = Yet it was not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those bird-like damsels who wanted to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, and our bones left whitening along the shore." 1 Yet yet CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 6 advmod _ _ 5 so so ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 sweet sweet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 7 as as ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 song song NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 Sirens Siren PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 18 det _ _ 15 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 16 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 like like ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 18 damsels damsel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 appos _ _ 19 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 20 nsubj _ _ 20 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 acl:relcl _ _ 21 to to PART TO _ 22 mark _ _ 22 tempt tempt VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 xcomp _ _ 23 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 obj _ _ 24 on on ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 rocks rock NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 28 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 34 mark _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 28 fixed _ _ 30 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 vessel vessel NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj:pass _ _ 32 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 34 aux:pass _ _ 34 wrecked wreck VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 37 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 bones bone NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nsubj _ _ 39 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ _ 40 whitening whiten VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 39 xcomp _ _ 41 along along ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 shore shore NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 " " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is** | past | head | | | | | as the song of the Sirens; sweet *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **want** | past | that like damsels | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 3 | **tempt** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | that like damsels *not said here* | | us | the rocks | | | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient | | 4 | **wreck** | might · passive | | our vessel | | | | | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 5 | **leave** | past | our bones | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **whiten** | gerund | our bones *not said here* | | | | | along the shore | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 7 | **sing** | | the Sirens | | | | | | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=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 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/16/48/) - next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/16/50/) - ↑ back to [Circe's Palace., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/16/)