---
title: So harsh and ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butc… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So harsh and ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butcher was sticking his knife into each of their throats, or, at the very least, that somebody was pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail. Who acts: you, butcher, somebody. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel H
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 3, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So harsh and ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butcher was sticking his knife into each of their throats, or, at the very least, that somebody was pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail.

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**Who acts:** you, butcher, somebody · **What happens:** be, pierce, fancy, stick, pull, twist · **To what, where:** enough, knife, each, hog, least, tail

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

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg976:17:48
# text = So harsh and ear-piercing it was, that you would have fancied a butcher was sticking his knife into each of their throats, or, at the very least, that somebody was pulling every hog by his funny little twist of a tail.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	harsh	harsh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	piercing	pierce	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
14	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	butcher	butcher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	sticking	stick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	ccomp	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	throats	throat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	det	_	_
35	somebody	somebody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
38	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	39	det	_	_
39	hog	hog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	by	by	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
42	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
43	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	twist	twist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | harsh *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pierce** | gerund |  | enough |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 3 | **fancy** | would · perfect | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **stick** | past · progressive | a butcher | butcher's knife |  | each |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent knife=Theme into each=Destination |
| 5 | **pull** | past · progressive | somebody | every hog |  | the least |  | by butcher's funny little twist of a tail | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent hog=Theme at least=Asset |
| 6 | **twist** |  | butcher | a tail |  |  |  |  | nom twist «event transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

<!-- .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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