---
title: In fact, if the Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In fact, if the Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood pricking up their ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward), the stranger could not have been less afraid of him. Who acts: Giant, Pygmies, stranger. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pyg
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/8/52/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/8/) / 52

# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 2, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In fact, if the Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood pricking up their ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward), the stranger could not have been less afraid of him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Giant, Pygmies, stranger · **What happens:** not be, stand, prick up, look, listen, go · **To what, where:** fact, ears

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Giant, Pygmies, stranger), 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:pg976:8:52
# text = In fact, if the Giant had been no bigger than the Pygmies (who stood pricking up their ears, and looking and listening to what was going forward), the stranger could not have been less afraid of him.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	cop	_	_
9	no	no	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	acl	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Pygmies	pygmy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
14	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	pricking	prick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	xcomp	_	_
18	up	up	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	conj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	obl	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	acl:relcl	_	_
30	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj:outer	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
37	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux	_	_
38	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	40	cop	_	_
39	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	40	advmod	_	_
40	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	40	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | the Giant | fact *not said here* |  |  |  | than the Pygmies; big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **stand** | past | the Pygmies |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **prick up** | gerund | the Pygmies *not said here* | Pygmies's ears |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ear=Patient |
| 4 | **look** | gerund | the Pygmies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **listen** | gerund | the Pygmies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to what=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **is** | could · perfect | the stranger |  |  | fact |  | of Antaeus; afraid, less *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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/8/51/)
- next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/8/53/)
- ↑ back to [The Pygmies., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg976/8/)