--- title: If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics description: If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. Who acts: tricks, fondness, truth. A senten --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/7/62/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Tanglewood Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/) / [The Pygmies., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/7/) / 62 # Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 62 If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. **Who acts:** tricks, fondness, truth · **What happens:** tell, be, have, like, prick, see · **To what, where:** truth, fondness, skin · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, fondness, truth), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg976:7:62 # text = If the truth must be told, they were sometimes as troublesome to the Giant as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes, especially as they had a fondness for mischief, and liked to prick his skin with their little swords and lances, to see how thick and tough it was. 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 truth truth NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj:pass _ _ 4 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 5 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 6 aux:pass _ _ 6 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 12 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 8 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 9 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 10 sometimes sometimes ADV RB PronType=Ind 12 advmod _ _ 11 as as ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 troublesome troublesome ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 Giant giant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 conj _ _ 16 as as ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 swarm swarm NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 ants ant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 nmod _ _ 21 or or CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 mosquitoes mosquito NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 24 especially especially ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 25 as as SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 acl:relcl _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 fondness fondness NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 30 for for ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 mischief mischief NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 34 liked like VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 xcomp _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 prick prick VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 skin skin NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 with with ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 41 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 swords sword NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obl _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 lances lance NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 46 to to PART TO _ 47 mark _ _ 47 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 conj _ _ 48 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 49 advmod _ _ 49 thick thick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 ccomp _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 51 cc _ _ 51 tough tough ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 conj _ _ 52 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 53 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | must · passive | | the truth | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 2 | **is** | past | tricks *= trick* | | | | | sometimes, troublesome *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **be** | | tricks *= trick* *not said here* | | | | | as a swarm of ants or mosquitoes | tree rules | | 4 | **have** | past | tricks *= trick* | a fondness | | | | for mischief; especially *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **like** | participle | a fondness *not said here* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 6 | **prick** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a fondness *not said here* | Earth's skin | | | | with tricks's little swords and lances | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent skin=Patient with sword=Instrument | | 7 | **see** | to-infinitive | a fondness *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **is** | past | truth | | | | | thick *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **be** | | truth *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/7/61/) - next →: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/7/63/) - ↑ back to [The Pygmies., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/7/)