--- title: How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the same time t… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy, is more than I can explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too. Who acts: child, I, faculty, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/53/) [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/) / 53 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pomegranate Seeds., part 4, sentence 53 How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy, is more than I can explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too. **Who acts:** child, I, faculty, Proserpina · **What happens:** contrive, maintain, keep, be, explain, give · **To what, where:** resolution, child, young ladies, faculty, air 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 (child, I, faculty, Proserpina), 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:pg976:23:53 # text = How she contrived to maintain her resolution, and at the same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy, is more than I can explain; but some young ladies, I am given to understand, possess the faculty of living on air, and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too. 1 How how ADV WRB PronType=Int 3 advmod _ _ 2 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 contrived contrive VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 maintain maintain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 resolution resolution NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 10 at at ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl:unmarked _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 acl _ _ 16 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 15 obj _ _ 17 tolerably tolerably ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 plump plump ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 xcomp _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 20 rosy rosy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 23 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 5 obj _ _ 24 than than SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 explain explain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 30 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 32 det _ _ 31 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 ladies lady NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 34 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 given give VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 40 possess possess VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 conj _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 faculty faculty NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 43 of of SCONJ IN _ 44 mark _ _ 44 living live VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 42 acl _ _ 45 on on ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 49 Proserpina Proserpina PROPN NNP Number=Sing 50 nsubj _ _ 50 seems seem VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 51 to to PART TO _ 53 mark _ _ 52 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 53 aux _ _ 53 possessed possess VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 50 xcomp _ _ 54 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 obj _ _ 55 too too ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **contrive** | past | child | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **maintain** | to-infinitive | child *not said here* | child's resolution | | | time | | vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent resolution=Theme | | 3 | **keep** | to-infinitive | child *not said here* | child | | | | plump *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Theme | | 4 | **is** | present | | | | | | more *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **explain** *speech: assert* | can | I | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **give** | present · passive | | some young ladies | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 7 | **understand** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **possess** | infinitive | | the faculty | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot faculty=Theme | | 9 | **live** | gerund | the faculty *not said here* | | | air | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on air=Location | | 10 | **seem** | present | Proserpina | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 11 | **possess** | to-infinitive · perfect | Proserpina *not said here* | faculty | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme | | 12 | **resolve** | | child | | | | | | nom resolution «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/54/) - ↑ back to [The Pomegranate Seeds., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/23/)