---
title: It is impossible to tell half of the funny tricks that they played w… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It is impossible to tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade; but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could get first round the circle of his one great eye. Who acts: tricks
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is impossible to tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade; but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could get first round the circle of his one great eye.

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**Who acts:** tricks, I, anything, party · **What happens:** be, tell, play, not know, see, run · **To what, where:** half, funny tricks, party, races, forehead · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (tricks, I, anything, party), 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:pg976:7:60
# text = It is impossible to tell half of the funny tricks that they played with their huge comrade; but I do not know that anything was more curious than when a party of boys were seen running races on his forehead, to try which of them could get first round the circle of his one great eye.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	csubj	_	_
6	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	tricks	trick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	comrade	comrade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	28	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	28	advmod	_	_
28	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	_
29	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
30	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	36	mark	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	advcl	_	_
37	running	run	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	xcomp	_	_
38	races	race	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
39	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	try	try	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
45	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	_
48	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	ccomp	_	_
50	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	49	advmod	_	_
51	round	round	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
56	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	58	nummod	_	_
57	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  | half of the funny tricks |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent half=Recipient |
| 3 | **play** | past | tricks *= trick* | the funny tricks |  |  |  | with tricks's huge comrade | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent that=Theme with comrade=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** | past | anything |  |  |  |  | curious *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** | past · passive |  | a party of boys |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **run** | gerund | a party of boys *not said here* | races |  | Earth's forehead |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent race=Theme on forehead=Trajectory |
| 8 | **try** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 9 | **get** | could |  |  |  |  |  | of tricks *= trick*; round the circle of Earth's one great eye; first *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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