---
title: It was too late for the Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was too late for the Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I should not wonder if his ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant. Who acts: strength, I, ponderous bones. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathanie
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 2, sentence 103

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It was too late for the Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I should not wonder if his ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant.

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**Who acts:** strength, I, ponderous bones · **What happens:** be, help, not wonder, lie · **To what, where:** way, same spot

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pygmies., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (strength, I, ponderous bones), 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:pg976:8:103
# text = It was too late for the Giant's Mother Earth to help him now; and I should not wonder if his ponderous bones were lying on the same spot to this very day, and were mistaken for those of an uncommonly large elephant.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	Mother	Mother	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	flat	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	wonder	wonder	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	ponderous	ponderous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	ccomp	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
33	very	very	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	mistaken	mistaken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	38	obl	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
42	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
43	uncommonly	uncommonly	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | strength |  |  |  |  | for the Giant's Mother; late *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **help** | to-infinitive | strength *not said here* |  | way |  | now |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **not** **wonder** *speech: ask* | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **lie** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | way's ponderous bones |  |  | the same spot | day |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on spot=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for those; mistaken *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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