---
title: Once or twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief r… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once or twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a feather. Who acts: you. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pygmies., part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 1, sentence 80

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once or twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a feather.

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**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** believe, make, bring · **To what, where:** me, little man, feather

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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 (you), 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:pg976:7:80
# text = Once or twice, if you will believe me, a little man was made chief ruler of the nation for no other merit in the world than bringing home such a feather.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	8	advmod	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
16	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	ruler	ruler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	xcomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	nation	nation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
23	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	merit	merit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
30	home	home	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	33	det:predet	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | future | you |  | me |  |  | once *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 2 | **make** | past · passive |  | a little man |  |  |  | for no other merit in the world | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: subject=Product for merit=Asset |
| 3 | **bring** | gerund |  | such feather |  |  |  | home *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent feather=Theme |

<!-- .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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