---
title: But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull of a… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him--huge, earth-born monster that he was--and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his Mother Earth could do for him. Who acts: you, Hercules, Mother. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» b
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 2, sentence 92

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him--huge, earth-born monster that he was--and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his Mother Earth could do for him.

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**Who acts:** you, Hercules, Mother · **What happens:** understand, be, think, fight, bear, conquer · **To what, where:** Hercules, spite · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (you, Hercules, Mother), 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:pg976:8:92
# text = But Hercules, you must understand, was wiser than this numskull of a Giant, and had thought of a way to fight him--huge, earth-born monster that he was--and to conquer him too, in spite of all that his Mother Earth could do for him.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	Hercules	Hercules	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	parataxis	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	numskull	numskull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	acl	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	amod	_	_
32	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	conquer	conquer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	too	too	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	47	det:predet	_	_
47	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	obl	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	Mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
50	Earth	Earth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	appos	_	_
51	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	acl:relcl	_	_
53	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | must | you |  |  |  |  | Hercules *vocative* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | than this numskull of a Giant; wise *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of a way | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **fight** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | Hercules |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **bear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **be** | past | Hercules |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **conquer** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | Hercules |  | spite |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 8 | **do** | could | Hercules's Mother |  |  |  |  | of spite; for Hercules | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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