---
title: They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, pretty muc… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, pretty much like birds' nests, out of straw, feathers, egg shells, and other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mortar; and when the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a Pygmy could desire. Who acts
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, pretty much like birds' nests, out of straw, feathers, egg shells, and other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mortar; and when the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a Pygmy could desire.

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**Who acts:** Pygmy workmen, structures, Pygmy · **What happens:** plaster, dry, be, desire · **To what, where:** structures, straw, hot sun

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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 (Pygmy workmen, structures, Pygmy), 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:pg976:7:10
# text = They were neatly plastered together by the Pygmy workmen, pretty much like birds' nests, out of straw, feathers, egg shells, and other small bits of stuff, with stiff clay instead of mortar; and when the hot sun had dried them, they were just as snug and comfortable as a Pygmy could desire.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	neatly	neatly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	plastered	plaster	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	Pygmy	pygmy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	workmen	workman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	much	much	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	like	like	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	'	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	shells	shell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
37	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	39	case	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	fixed	_	_
39	mortar	mortar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
42	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	47	advmod	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
48	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
51	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
52	just	just	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
53	as	as	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
54	snug	snug	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	comfortable	comfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	conj	_	_
57	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	Pygmy	pygmy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
60	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	desire	desire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **plaster** | past · passive | the Pygmy workmen and birds's nests | structures *= structure* |  | straw and feathers and egg shells |  | other small bits of stuff and stiff clay instead mortar *obl*; neatly, together *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent subject=Theme out straw=Destination |
| 2 | **dry** | past · perfect · passive |  | the hot sun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | structures *= structure* |  |  |  |  | snug *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | structures *= structure* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **desire** | could | a Pygmy |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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