--- title: They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs i… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs in a sty; and, if they had had their wits about them, they might have guessed that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. Who acts: sorts, this. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/17/24/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/17/) / 24 # Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 3, sentence 24 They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs in a sty; and, if they had had their wits about them, they might have guessed that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. **Who acts:** sorts, this · **What happens:** sit, be, behave, have, guess · **To what, where:** golden thrones, sty, wits, opinion This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., 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 (sorts, this), 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:pg976:17:24 # text = They sat on golden thrones, to be sure; but they behaved like pigs in a sty; and, if they had had their wits about them, they might have guessed that this was the opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 on on ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 thrones throne NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 8 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 9 cop _ _ 9 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ; ; PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 12 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 behaved behave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 14 like like ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 pigs pig NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl _ _ 16 in in ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 sty sty NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 22 if if SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 parataxis _ _ 26 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 wits wit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obj _ _ 28 about about ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 34 aux _ _ 34 guessed guess VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 conj _ _ 35 that that SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 36 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 39 nsubj _ _ 37 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 opinion opinion NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 advcl _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 41 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 42 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 hostess hostess NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 45 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 maidens maiden NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | sorts *= sort* | | | golden thrones | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on throne=Location | | 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | sorts *= sort* *not said here* | | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **behave** | past | sorts *= sort* | | | a sty | | like pigs | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like pig=Attribute | | 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | sorts *= sort* | sorts's wits | | | | about wits *= wit* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wit=Patient | | 5 | **guess** | might · perfect | sorts *= sort* | | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is a** | past | this | the opinion | | | | of sorts's beautiful hostess and hostess's maidens | tree rules | 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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/17/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/17/25/) - ↑ back to [Circe's Palace., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/17/)