Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 108

I inquired, on one occasion, whether he believed in ghosts and could see spirits.

Who acts: I, atonement · What happens: inquire, believe, see · To what, where: one occasion, ghosts, spirits

This is a sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, atonement), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.

The tree

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	2 inquired	nsubj
2	inquired	inquire	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 occasion	punct
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 occasion	case
5	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 occasion	nummod
6	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inquired	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 believed	punct
8	whether	whether	SCONJ	_	10 believed	mark
9	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 believed	nsubj
10	believed	believe	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 inquired	parataxis
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 ghosts	case
12	ghosts	ghost	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 believed	obl
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 see	cc
14	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 see	aux
15	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 believed	conj
16	spirits	spirit	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 see	obj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 inquired	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	inquire speech: other	past	I		one occasion	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	believe	past	atonement		ghosts	vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer
3	see	could	atonement not said here	spirits		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer spirit=Stimulus

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: «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Project Gutenberg book 76586 (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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🌲 Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 108

The tree

Pragmatics

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 108