--- title: It was really piteous to see the poor, starving cattle and sheep, ho… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: It was really piteous to see the poor, starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy on the human race, and, at all events, to let t --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/43/) [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/) / [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/) / 43 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 4, sentence 43 It was really piteous to see the poor, starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy on the human race, and, at all events, to let the grass grow. **Who acts:** It, cattle, instinct, everybody, events, grass · **What happens:** be, see, starve, follow, low, bleat · **To what, where:** poor starving cattle, Ceres, cattle, help, instinct, mercy This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, cattle, instinct, everybody), 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:pg976:23:43 # text = It was really piteous to see the poor, starving cattle and sheep, how they followed behind Ceres, lowing and bleating, as if their instinct taught them to expect help from her; and everybody that was acquainted with her power besought her to have mercy on the human race, and, at all events, to let the grass grow. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 really really ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 piteous piteous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 8 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 10 starving starve VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 11 amod _ _ 11 cattle cattle NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obj _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 sheep sheep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 17 advmod _ _ 16 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 followed follow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ _ 18 behind behind ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 Ceres Ceres PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 lowing low VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 bleating bleat VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 25 as as SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 26 if if SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 27 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 instinct instinct NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 29 taught teach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ _ 30 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 expect expect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 33 help help NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 34 from from ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 38 everybody everybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 45 nsubj _ _ 39 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 41 nsubj _ _ 40 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 cop _ _ 41 acquainted acquainted ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 acl:relcl _ _ 42 with with ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 power power NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 45 besought beseech VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 46 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ _ 47 to to PART TO _ 48 mark _ _ 48 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 xcomp _ _ 49 mercy mercy NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obj _ _ 50 on on ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 52 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 race race NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 55 and and CCONJ CC _ 62 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 57 at at ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 58 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 59 det _ _ 59 events event NOUN NNS Number=Plur 62 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 61 to to PART TO _ 62 mark _ _ 62 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 64 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obj _ _ 65 grow grow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 62 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | It | | | | | piteous *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | | the poor starving cattle and sheep | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cattle=Stimulus | | 3 | **starve** | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **follow** | past | cattle | | | Ceres | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme behind ceres=Location | | 5 | **low** | gerund | cattle *not said here* | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **bleat** | gerund | cattle *not said here* | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **teach** *speech: other* | past | cattle's instinct | | cattle | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 8 | **expect** | to-infinitive | cattle's instinct *not said here* | help | | | | from instinct | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent help=Theme | | 9 | **is** | past | | | | | | with instinct's power; acquainted *property* | tree rules | | 10 | **beseech** | past | everybody | instinct | | | | | tree rules | | 11 | **have** | to-infinitive | everybody *not said here* | mercy | | the human race | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mercy=Patient | | 12 | **let** | to-infinitive | all events | the grass | | | | | tree rules | | 13 | **grow** | infinitive | the grass *not said here* | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/44/) - ↑ back to [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/)