---
title: George had often seen his father's men chop down the great trees in… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: George had often seen his father's men chop down the great trees in the forest, and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash to the ground. Who acts: George, seen men, tree. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, George Washington and His Hatch
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, George Washington and His Hatchet., sentence 4

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George had often seen his father's men chop down the great trees in the forest, and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash to the ground.

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**Who acts:** George, seen men, tree · **What happens:** see, chop down, think, be, fall · **To what, where:** great trees, forest, fine sport · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, George Washington and His Hatchet.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (George, seen men, tree), 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:pg18442:21:4
# text = George had often seen his father's men chop down the great trees in the forest, and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash to the ground.
1	George	George	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	often	often	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	chop	chop	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	down	down	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	cop	_	_
25	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	sport	sport	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	ccomp	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	_
29	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	det	_	_
30	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
31	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	ccomp	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	crash	crash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past · perfect | George |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **chop down** | present | George's father's seen men | the great trees |  | the forest |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent tree=Patient in forest=Location |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | George |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | would | tree | fine sport |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | George *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **fall** | infinitive | this tree |  |  |  |  | with a crash to the ground | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (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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