Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 71

According to some historians, the Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose prickly quills would be very terrible to the enemy.

Who acts: Pygmies, such animals, I, prickly quills · What happens: accord, use, go, mount, be, ride · To what, where: battle, backs

This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pygmies., 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 (Pygmies, such animals, I, prickly quills), 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	According	accord	VERB	ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 historians	case
2	to	to	ADP	_	1 According	fixed
3	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	4 historians	det
4	historians	historian	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 used	obl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 historians	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Pygmies	det
7	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 used	nsubj
8	used	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	to	to	PART	_	10 go	mark
10	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 used	xcomp
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 battle	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 battle	det
13	battle	battle	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 go	obl
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 mounted	punct
15	mounted	mount	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 battle	acl
16	on	on	ADP	_	18 backs	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 backs	det
18	backs	back	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 mounted	obl
19	of	of	ADP	_	20 goats	case
20	goats	goat	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 backs	nmod
21	and	and	CCONJ	_	22 rams	cc
22	rams	ram	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 goats	conj
23	;	;	PUNCT	_	34 big	punct
24	but	but	CCONJ	_	26 animals	cc
25	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	26 animals	amod
26	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	34 big	nsubj
27	as	as	ADP	_	28 these	case
28	these	this	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	26 animals	nmod
29	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	34 big	aux
30	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	34 big	aux
31	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	34 big	cop
32	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	34 big	advmod
33	too	too	ADV	_	34 big	advmod
34	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 used	parataxis
35	for	for	SCONJ	_	38 ride	mark
36	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	Number=Plur	38 ride	nsubj
37	to	to	PART	_	38 ride	mark
38	ride	ride	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	34 big	advcl
39	upon	upon	ADP	_	38 ride	obl
40	;	;	PUNCT	_	49 rode	punct
41	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	46 suppose	mark
42	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	41 so	fixed
43	,	,	PUNCT	_	41 so	punct
44	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	46 suppose	nsubj
45	rather	rather	ADV	_	46 suppose	advmod
46	suppose	suppose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	49 rode	advcl
47	,	,	PUNCT	_	46 suppose	punct
48	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	49 rode	nsubj
49	rode	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 used	parataxis
50	on	on	ADP	_	51 squirrel	case
51	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	Number=Sing	53 back	obl
52	-	-	PUNCT	_	53 back	punct
53	back	back	ADV	_	49 rode	advmod
54	,	,	PUNCT	_	58 back	punct
55	or	or	CCONJ	_	58 back	cc
56	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	Number=Sing	58 back	nsubj
57	-	-	PUNCT	_	58 back	punct
58	back	back	ADV	_	49 rode	advmod
59	,	,	PUNCT	_	63 back	punct
60	or	or	CCONJ	_	63 back	cc
61	rat	rat	NOUN	Number=Sing	63 back	compound
62	-	-	PUNCT	_	63 back	punct
63	back	back	ADV	_	49 rode	advmod
64	,	,	PUNCT	_	67 got	punct
65	or	or	CCONJ	_	67 got	cc
66	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	_	67 got	advmod
67	got	get	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	49 rode	conj
68	upon	upon	ADP	_	69 hedgehogs	case
69	hedgehogs	hedgehog	NOUN	Number=Plur	67 got	obl
70	,	,	PUNCT	_	77 terrible	punct
71	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	73 quills	nmod:poss
72	prickly	prickly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	73 quills	amod
73	quills	quill	NOUN	Number=Plur	77 terrible	nsubj
74	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	77 terrible	aux
75	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	77 terrible	cop
76	very	very	ADV	_	77 terrible	advmod
77	terrible	terrible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	69 hedgehogs	conj
78	to	to	ADP	_	80 enemy	case
79	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	80 enemy	det
80	enemy	enemy	NOUN	Number=Sing	77 terrible	obl
81	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 used	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	accord	gerund					vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent
2	use	past	the Pygmies			accord some historians	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	go	to-infinitive	the Pygmies not said here		the battle		vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to battle=Initial_Location
4	mount	participle		the battle not said here	the backs of goats and rams		vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on back=Destination
5	is	must · perfect	such animals as these			big, far property	tree rules
6	ride	to-infinitive	Pygmies				vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
7	suppose	present	I				vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
8	ride	past	Pygmies = pygmy				vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
9	get	participle	Pygmies = pygmy not said here			upon hedgehogs; perhaps property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer
10	is	would	prickly quills			to the enemy; terrible property	tree rules

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.

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