---
title: _--But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no more… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: _--But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me that they were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus. Who acts: Hobyahs, assurance, tale, Batten. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LXIX. the Ho
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, LXIX. the Hobyahs, sentence 5

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\_--But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me that they were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus.

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**Who acts:** Hobyahs, assurance, tale, Batten · **What happens:** not be, convince, be, assure, portray · **To what, where:** more, bogles, portraits

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LXIX. the Hobyahs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hobyahs, assurance, tale, Batten), 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:pg14241:60:5
# text = _--But for the assurance of the tale itself that Hobyahs are no more, Mr. Batten's portraits of them would have convinced me that they were the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus.
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	assurance	assurance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	9	nmod:unmarked	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
12	Hobyahs	hobyah	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	no	no	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod:desc	_	_
18	Batten	Batten	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	's	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	portraits	portrait	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux	_	_
25	convinced	convince	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl	_	_
26	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	bogles	bogle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	ccomp	_	_
32	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	comma	comma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	bacillus	bacillus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | Hobyahs |  |  |  |  | more *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **convince** | would · perfect · passive | the assurance of the tale  tale *not said here* | more |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer i=Result |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Hobyahs *= hobyah* | the bogles or spirits of the comma bacillus |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **assure** |  | the tale  tale |  |  |  |  |  | nom assurance «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |
| 5 | **portray** |  | Batten  Mr. | portraits *= portrait* |  |  |  |  | nom portrait «communication transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

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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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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