---
title: If they once gain the bridge, we cannot hinder them from crossing; a… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: If they once gain the bridge, we cannot hinder them from crossing; and then what hope will there be for the town?" Who acts: Fathers, we. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Horatius At the Bridge., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Horatius At the Bridge., sentence 9

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If they once gain the bridge, we cannot hinder them from crossing; and then what hope will there be for the town?"

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**Who acts:** Fathers, we · **What happens:** gain, not hinder, cross, hope, be · **To what, where:** bridge, Fathers

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Horatius At the Bridge.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fathers, we), 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:pg18442:31:9
# text = If they once gain the bridge, we cannot hinder them from crossing; and then what hope will there be for the town?"
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	advmod	_	_
4	gain	gain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	hinder	hinder	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	nsubj	_	_
19	hope	hope	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
20	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
22	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gain** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Fathers *= father* | the bridge |  |  |  | once *property* | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridge=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **hinder** | can | we | Fathers *= father* |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer they=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cross** | gerund | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **hope** | present |  |  |  | there | then |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **be** *not said to happen* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for the town | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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:** «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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