--- title: In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretense of hospita… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretense of hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down; but, if they happened to be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main force; or, if they were too tall, he lopped off their heads or feet, and laughed at what he ha --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/78/) [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 Minotaur., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/) / 78 # Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 1, sentence 78 In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretense of hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down; but, if they happened to be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main force; or, if they were too tall, he lopped off their heads or feet, and laughed at what he had done, as an excellent joke. **Who acts:** Theseus, guests, wicked villain · **What happens:** have, invite, lie down, happen, be, stretch out · **To what, where:** bed, cavern, guests, heads, hospitality This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Theseus, guests, wicked villain), 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:pg976:3:78 # text = In his cavern he had a bed, on which, with great pretense of hospitality, he invited his guests to lie down; but, if they happened to be shorter than the bed, this wicked villain stretched them out by main force; or, if they were too tall, he lopped off their heads or feet, and laughed at what he had done, as an excellent joke. 1 In in ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 cavern cavern NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 bed bed NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 9 on on ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 10 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 14 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 12 with with ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 pretense pretense NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 hospitality hospitality NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 invited invite VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 20 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 guests guest NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ _ 22 to to PART TO _ 23 mark _ _ 23 lie lie VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 xcomp _ _ 24 down down ADP RP _ 23 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ; ; PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 26 but but CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 28 if if SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 advcl _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 32 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 33 cop _ _ 33 shorter short ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 30 advcl _ _ 34 than than ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 bed bed NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 38 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 40 det _ _ 39 wicked wicked ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 villain villain NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 41 stretched stretch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 42 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 out out ADP RP _ 41 compound:prt _ _ 44 by by ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 main main ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 force force NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ; ; PUNCT : _ 57 punct _ _ 48 or or CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 50 if if SCONJ IN _ 54 mark _ _ 51 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 54 nsubj _ _ 52 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 cop _ _ 53 too too ADV RB _ 54 advmod _ _ 54 tall tall ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 55 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 56 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 57 nsubj _ _ 57 lopped lop VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 58 off off ADP RP _ 57 compound:prt _ _ 59 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 60 nmod:poss _ _ 60 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 obj _ _ 61 or or CCONJ CC _ 62 cc _ _ 62 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 60 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 63 , , PUNCT , _ 65 punct _ _ 64 and and CCONJ CC _ 65 cc _ _ 65 laughed laugh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 57 conj _ _ 66 at at ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 67 what what PRON WP PronType=Rel 65 obl _ _ 68 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 70 nsubj _ _ 69 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 70 aux _ _ 70 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 67 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 71 , , PUNCT , _ 75 punct _ _ 72 as as ADP IN _ 75 case _ _ 73 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 75 det _ _ 74 excellent excellent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 75 amod _ _ 75 joke joke NOUN NN Number=Sing 70 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 76 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | Theseus | a bed | | Theseus's cavern | | on great pretense of hospitality | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bed=Patient | | 2 | **invite** | past | Theseus | Theseus's guests | | | | | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent guest=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **lie down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Theseus's guests *not said here* | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **happen** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | guests *= guest* | | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **is** | to-infinitive | guests *= guest* *not said here* | | | | | than the bed; short *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **stretch out** | past | this wicked villain | guests *= guest* | | | | by main force | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient | | 7 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | guests *= guest* | | | | | tall *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **lop off** | past | Theseus | guests's heads or feet | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme | | 9 | **laugh** | past | Theseus *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **do** | past · perfect | Theseus | | | | | as a excellent joke | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 11 | **pretend** | | | hospitality | | | | | nom pretense «act transitive»: of=patient | 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 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/77/) - next →: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/79/) - ↑ back to [The Minotaur., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/3/)