---
title: It was well for the world that Antaeus happened to be of a sluggish… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was well for the world that Antaeus happened to be of a sluggish disposition and liked ease better than exercise; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to pull down the sky about people's ears. Who acts
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 2, sentence 47

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It was well for the world that Antaeus happened to be of a sluggish disposition and liked ease better than exercise; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to pull down the sky about people's ears.

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**Who acts:** instant, world, Antaeus, Pygmies · **What happens:** be, happen, like, frisk, touch, do · **To what, where:** earth, world, sky

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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 (instant, world, Antaeus, Pygmies), 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:pg976:8:47
# text = It was well for the world that Antaeus happened to be of a sluggish disposition and liked ease better than exercise; for, if he had frisked about like the Pygmies, and touched the earth as often as they did, he would long ago have been strong enough to pull down the sky about people's ears.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	Antaeus	Antaeus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	sluggish	sluggish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	disposition	disposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	liked	like	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	amod	_	_
18	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
19	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	amod	_	_
20	than	than	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	exercise	exercise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	frisked	frisk	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
29	about	about	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	like	like	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	Pygmies	Pygmy	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	as	as	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	often	often	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
40	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
45	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
46	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	47	advmod	_	_
47	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
48	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	50	cop	_	_
50	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	acl:relcl	_	_
51	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
54	down	down	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
57	about	about	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	's	's	PART	POS	_	58	case	_	_
60	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | instant |  |  |  |  | for the world; well *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **happen** | past | the world |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | the world *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of a sluggish disposition and liked ease | tree rules |
| 4 | **like** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **frisk** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | Antaeus |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **touch** | past |  | the earth |  |  |  | often *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme earth=Co-Theme |
| 7 | **do** | past | Pygmies *= pygmy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | would · perfect | Antaeus | the world *not said here* |  |  |  | ago, enough, strong *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **pull down** | to-infinitive | Antaeus *not said here* | the sky |  |  |  | about people's ears | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sky=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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