---
title: If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was to everybody else, h… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was to everybody else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one kick, and hardly have known that he did it. Who acts: everybody, Antaeus. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pygmies., part 1, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was to everybody else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one kick, and hardly have known that he did it.

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**Who acts:** everybody, Antaeus · **What happens:** nature, be, beat down, know, do · **To what, where:** Antaeus, fingers, biggest city, one kick, ear · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (everybody, Antaeus), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg976:7:27
# text = If he had been as ill-natured to them as he was to everybody else, he might have beaten down their biggest city at one kick, and hardly have known that he did it.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	aux:pass	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	natured	nature	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	8	obl:agent	_	_
16	else	else	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux	_	_
21	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
22	down	down	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	biggest	big	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	amod	_	_
25	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	kick	kick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	ccomp	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nature** | past · perfect · passive | everybody | Antaeus | fingers *= finger* |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | Antaeus |  |  |  |  | as everybody; else *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **beat down** | might · perfect | Antaeus | fingers's biggest city |  | one kick |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location city=Theme |
| 4 | **know** | present · perfect | Antaeus *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **do** | past | Antaeus | ear |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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