---
title: According to some historians, the Pygmies used to go to the battle,… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: According to some historians, the Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
According to some historians, the Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose prickly quills would be very terrible to the enemy.

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**Who acts:** Pygmies, such animals, I, prickly quills · **What happens:** accord, use, go, mount, be, ride · **To what, where:** battle, backs

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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, such animals, I, prickly quills), 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:pg976:7:71
# text = According to some historians, the Pygmies used to go to the battle, mounted on the backs of goats and rams; but such animals as these must have been far too big for Pygmies to ride upon; so that, I rather suppose, they rode on squirrel-back, or rabbit-back, or rat-back, or perhaps got upon hedgehogs, whose prickly quills would be very terrible to the enemy.
1	According	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	case	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	historians	historian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	mounted	mount	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	goats	goat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	rams	ram	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	26	nmod	_	_
29	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux	_	_
31	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	cop	_	_
32	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	34	advmod	_	_
33	too	too	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
35	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	ride	ride	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
39	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	49	punct	_	_
41	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	46	mark	_	_
42	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	41	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
44	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
48	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
50	on	on	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	back	back	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
55	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
56	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	back	back	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
60	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
61	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	63	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	back	back	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
65	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	67	cc	_	_
66	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	67	advmod	_	_
67	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	conj	_	_
68	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	hedgehogs	hedgehog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	67	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
71	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	73	nmod:poss	_	_
72	prickly	prickly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	73	amod	_	_
73	quills	quill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	77	nsubj	_	_
74	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	77	aux	_	_
75	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	77	cop	_	_
76	very	very	ADV	RB	_	77	advmod	_	_
77	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	conj	_	_
78	to	to	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **use** | past | the Pygmies |  |  |  |  | accord some historians | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go** | to-infinitive | the Pygmies *not said here* |  |  | the battle |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to battle=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **mount** | participle |  | the battle *not said here* |  | the backs of goats and rams |  |  | vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on back=Destination |
| 5 | **is** | must · perfect | such animals as these |  |  |  |  | big, far *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **ride** | to-infinitive | Pygmies |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **suppose** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **ride** | past | Pygmies *= pygmy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **get** | participle | Pygmies *= pygmy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon hedgehogs; perhaps *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 10 | **is** | would | prickly quills |  |  |  |  | to the enemy; terrible *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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