---
title: When they saw Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf w… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When they saw Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it toss them ashore at her feet. Who acts: heads, wave. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 2, sentence 54

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When they saw Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it toss them ashore at her feet.

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**Who acts:** heads, wave · **What happens:** see, sit down, let, toss · **To what, where:** Mother Ceres, crest, wave, heads, feet

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., 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 (heads, wave), 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:pg976:21:54
# text = When they saw Mother Ceres, they sat down on the crest of the surf wave, and let it toss them ashore at her feet.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
4	Mother	Mother	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	Ceres	Ceres	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	crest	crest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	surf	surf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	toss	toss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	ashore	ashore	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | heads *= head* | Mother Ceres |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ceres=Stimulus |
| 2 | **sit down** | past | heads *= head* |  |  | the crest of the surf wave |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on crest=Location |
| 3 | **let** | infinitive | heads *= head* *not said here* | wave |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **toss** | infinitive | wave *not said here* | heads *= head* |  | playmate's feet |  | ashore *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme at foot=Destination |

<!-- .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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