Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXXI. a Plantation Witch, sentence 45
"Hit seem like," continued Uncle Remus, "dat witch fokes is got a slit in de back er de neck, en w'en dey wanter change derse'f, dey des pull de hide over der head same ez if 'twuz a shut, en dar dey is."
Who acts: de neck, derse'f · What happens: be, continue, get, change, pull, hide · To what, where: Uncle Remus, witch fokes, de, der head · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXXI. a Plantation Witch. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (de neck, derse'f), 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 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 Hit | punct |
| 2 | Hit | hit | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 7 continued | ccomp |
| 3 | seem | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 Hit | cop |
| 4 | like | like | INTJ | _ | 2 Hit | discourse |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 Hit | punct |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 Hit | punct |
| 7 | continued | continue | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | Uncle | Uncle | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 Remus | compound |
| 9 | Remus | Remus | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 continued | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 got | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 16 got | punct |
| 12 | dat | dat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 witch | compound |
| 13 | witch | witch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 fokes | compound |
| 14 | fokes | foke | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 got | nsubj |
| 15 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 got | aux:pass |
| 16 | got | get | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 continued | parataxis |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 slit | det |
| 18 | slit | slit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 got | obj |
| 19 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 de | case |
| 20 | de | de | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 got | obl |
| 21 | back | back | ADV | _ | 22 er | advmod |
| 22 | er | e | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 23 de | advmod |
| 23 | de | de | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 neck | amod |
| 24 | neck | neck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 change | nsubj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 wanter | punct |
| 26 | en | en | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 wanter | compound |
| 27 | w'en | w'en | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 26 en | flat |
| 28 | dey | dey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 wanter | compound |
| 29 | wanter | wanter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 neck | conj |
| 30 | change | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 got | parataxis |
| 31 | derse'f | derse'f | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 pull | nsubj |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 des | punct |
| 33 | dey | dey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 des | compound |
| 34 | des | des | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 derse'f | conj |
| 35 | pull | pull | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 change | parataxis |
| 36 | de | de | X | Foreign=Yes | 37 hide | discourse |
| 37 | hide | hide | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 35 pull | ccomp |
| 38 | over | over | ADP | _ | 40 head | case |
| 39 | der | d | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 40 head | amod |
| 40 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 hide | obl |
| 41 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 ez | amod |
| 42 | ez | ez | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 head | conj |
| 43 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 52 is | mark |
| 44 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 45 twuz | punct |
| 45 | twuz | twuz | X | Foreign=Yes | 52 is | dep |
| 46 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 51 dey | det |
| 47 | shut | shut | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 dey | amod |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 shut | punct |
| 49 | en | en | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 dey | amod |
| 50 | dar | dar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 51 dey | compound |
| 51 | dey | dey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 twuz | obj |
| 52 | is | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 hide | advcl |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 continued | punct |
| 54 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 continued | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is in a quote | present | hit property | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | continue | past | Uncle Remus | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | get in a quote | present · passive | witch fokes | de | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary slit=Theme | ||||
| 4 | change in a quote | present | de neck and en dey wanter | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | pull in a quote | present | derse'f and dey des | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | hide in a quote | present | derse'f and dey des not said here | der head and same ez | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over head=Location | ||||
| 7 | be a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | derse'f and dey des not said here | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg2306/34/45/