---
title: At harvest time, they were forced to go with their little axes and c… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: At harvest time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down the grain, exactly as a woodcutter makes a clearing in the forest; and when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad affair. Who acts: 
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 13

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At harvest time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down the grain, exactly as a woodcutter makes a clearing in the forest; and when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad affair.

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**Who acts:** Pygmies, woodcutter, stalk · **What happens:** force, go, cut down, make, overburden, chance · **To what, where:** Pygmies, grain, clearing, forest, unfortunate Pygmy, sad affair

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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 (Pygmies, woodcutter, stalk), 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:pg976:7:13
# text = At harvest time, they were forced to go with their little axes and cut down the grain, exactly as a woodcutter makes a clearing in the forest; and when a stalk of wheat, with its overburdened top, chanced to come crashing down upon an unfortunate Pygmy, it was apt to be a very sad affair.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	harvest	harvest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	axes	ax	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
16	down	down	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	woodcutter	woodcutter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	clearing	clearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	55	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
32	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	55	advmod	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	stalk	stalk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	wheat	wheat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
40	overburdened	overburden	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	amod	_	_
41	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	chanced	chance	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	conj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	_
46	crashing	crash	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	45	xcomp	_	_
47	down	down	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
48	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	unfortunate	unfortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	Pygmy	pygmy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
55	apt	apt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
57	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	cop	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
59	very	very	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
60	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	affair	affair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **force** | past · passive |  | Pygmies *= pygmy* |  |  | time |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive | Pygmies *= pygmy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with Pygmies's little axes | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with ax=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **cut down** | participle |  | the grain |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset grain=Product |
| 4 | **make** | present | a woodcutter | a clearing |  | the forest |  | exactly *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset clearing=Product |
| 5 | **overburden** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **chance** | participle | a stalk of wheat and grain's overburdened top *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn risk-94-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **come** | to-infinitive | a stalk of wheat and grain's overburdened top *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **crash down** | gerund | a stalk of wheat and grain's overburdened top *not said here* |  |  | a unfortunate Pygmy |  | down *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon pygmy=Location |
| 9 | **is** | past | a stalk of wheat and grain's overburdened top |  |  |  |  | apt *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is a** | to-infinitive | a stalk of wheat and grain's overburdened top *not said here* | a sad affair |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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:** «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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