---
title: They would have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They would have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and pawing the air with their fore trotters. Who acts: hogs. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 3, with its de
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 3, sentence 45

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They would have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and pawing the air with their fore trotters.

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**Who acts:** hogs · **What happens:** wring, attempt, do, grow, see, squat · **To what, where:** hands, despair, hogs, hams, air

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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 (hogs), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg976:17:45
# text = They would have wrung their hands in despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all the more desperate for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and pawing the air with their fore trotters.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	wrung	wring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	attempting	attempt	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	ccomp	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
17	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	21	advmod	_	_
21	desperate	desperate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
24	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	squatted	squat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	xcomp	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	hams	ham	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	pawing	paw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	fore	fore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	trotters	trotter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wring** | would · perfect | hogs *= hog* | hogs's hands |  | despair |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent hand=Theme in despair=Trajectory |
| 2 | **attempt** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **grow** | past | hogs *= hog* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | desperate *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | gerund | hogs *= hog* *not said here* | hogs *= hog* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **squat** | participle | hogs *= hog* *not said here* |  |  | hogs's hams |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ham=Location |
| 7 | **paw** | gerund | hogs *= hog* *not said here* | the air |  |  |  | with hogs's fore trotters | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent air=Patient with trotter=Instrument |

<!-- .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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