---
title: Why, if you will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Why, if you will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced ram. Who acts: you, voyagers. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 3, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 3, sentence 76

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why, if you will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced ram.

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**Who acts:** you, voyagers · **What happens:** believe, be, carry, fleece · **To what, where:** me, sons, Colchis, back · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, voyagers), 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:pg976:27:76
# text = Why, if you will believe me, they were the sons of that very Phrixus, who, in his childhood, had been carried to Colchis on the back of the golden-fleeced ram.
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	ccomp	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	nmod	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	Phrixus	Phrixus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	childhood	childhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Colchis	Colchis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
34	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	fleeced	fleece	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	amod	_	_
37	ram	ram	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | future | you | me |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | past | voyagers *= voyager* | the sons |  |  |  | of that; Phrixus *nmod* | tree rules |
| 3 | **carry** | past · perfect · passive |  | the sons *not said here* | Colchis | the back of the fleeced ram |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: to colchis=Destination |
| 4 | **fleece** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cheat-10.6.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:** «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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