Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Dear Frost:, sentence 98
At least it is a fable thoroughly characteristic of the negro; and it needs no scientific investigation to show why he selects as his hero the weakest and most harmless of all animals, and brings him out victorious in contests with the bear, the wolf, and the fox.
Who acts: interpretation, negro · What happens: be, need, show, select, bring out · To what, where: characteristic, least, scientific investigation, negro, contests · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, Dear Frost:. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (interpretation, negro), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At | at | ADP | _ | 2 least | case |
| 2 | least | least | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 8 characteristic | nmod |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 characteristic | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 characteristic | cop |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 fable | det |
| 6 | fable | fable | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characteristic | nsubj |
| 7 | thoroughly | thoroughly | ADV | _ | 8 characteristic | advmod |
| 8 | characteristic | characteristic | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 negro | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 negro | det |
| 11 | negro | negro | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characteristic | nmod |
| 12 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 15 needs | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 needs | cc |
| 14 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 needs | nsubj |
| 15 | needs | need | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 characteristic | parataxis |
| 16 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 18 investigation | det |
| 17 | scientific | scientific | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 investigation | amod |
| 18 | investigation | investigation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 needs | obj |
| 19 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 show | mark |
| 20 | show | show | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 investigation | acl |
| 21 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 23 selects | advmod |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 selects | nsubj |
| 23 | selects | select | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 show | ccomp |
| 24 | as | as | ADP | _ | 26 hero | case |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 hero | nmod:poss |
| 26 | hero | hero | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 selects | obl |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 weakest | det |
| 28 | weakest | weak | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 26 hero | conj |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 harmless | cc |
| 30 | most | most | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 31 harmless | amod |
| 31 | harmless | harmless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 weakest | conj |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 animals | case |
| 33 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 34 animals | det |
| 34 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 harmless | obl |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 brings | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 brings | cc |
| 37 | brings | bring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 needs | conj |
| 38 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 brings | iobj |
| 39 | out | out | ADP | _ | 37 brings | compound:prt |
| 40 | victorious | victorious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 brings | xcomp |
| 41 | in | in | ADP | _ | 42 contests | case |
| 42 | contests | contest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 brings | obl |
| 43 | with | with | ADP | _ | 45 bear | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 bear | det |
| 45 | bear | bear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 contests | nmod |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 wolf | punct |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 wolf | det |
| 48 | wolf | wolf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 bear | conj |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 fox | punct |
| 50 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 52 fox | cc |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 fox | det |
| 52 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characteristic | conj |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 characteristic | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | interpretation | characteristic and the fox | least | of the negro; thoroughly property | tree rules | ||
| 2 | need | present | interpretation | no scientific investigation | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot investigation=Theme | ||||
| 3 | show | to-infinitive | interpretation not said here | no scientific investigation not said here | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | select | present | negro | as negro's hero | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent as hero=Attribute | ||||
| 5 | bring out | present | interpretation not said here | negro | contests with the bear and the wolf | victorious property | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
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.
Text: «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, Project Gutenberg book 2306 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/1/98/