Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 21

Francis Moore, keeper of the stores, describing them in 1736, says: “They are terrible to look at, stretching open an horrible large mouth big enough to swallow a Man, with Rows of dreadful large sharp Teeth, and Feet like Draggons, armed with great Claws, and a long Tail which they throw about with great Strength, and which seems their best Weapon, for their Claws are feebly set on, and the Stiffness of their Necks hinders them from turning nimbly to bite.”

Who acts: Francis, stores, Stiffness · What happens: describe, say, be, look, stretch, swallow · To what, where: stores, 1736, horrible large mouth, Man, long Tail, best Weapon · Speech: someone speaks here

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 (Francis, stores, Stiffness), 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	Francis	Francis	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 says	nsubj
2	Moore	Moore	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Francis	flat
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 keeper	punct
4	keeper	keeper	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Francis	appos
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 stores	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 stores	det
7	stores	store	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 keeper	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 describing	punct
9	describing	describe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Francis	acl
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 describing	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 1736	case
12	1736	1736	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	9 describing	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Francis	punct
14	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
15	:	:	PUNCT	_	19 terrible	punct
16	“	"	PUNCT	_	19 terrible	punct
17	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 terrible	nsubj
18	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	19 terrible	cop
19	terrible	terrible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 says	ccomp
20	to	to	PART	_	21 look	mark
21	look	look	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	19 terrible	advcl
22	at	at	ADP	_	21 look	obl
23	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 stretching	punct
24	stretching	stretch	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	14 says	advcl
25	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 stretching	xcomp
26	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	29 mouth	det
27	horrible	horrible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	29 mouth	amod
28	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	29 mouth	amod
29	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 stretching	obj
30	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	29 mouth	amod
31	enough	enough	ADV	_	30 big	advmod
32	to	to	PART	_	33 swallow	mark
33	swallow	swallow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	30 big	advcl
34	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	35 Man	det
35	Man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	33 swallow	obj
36	,	,	PUNCT	_	38 Rows	punct
37	with	with	ADP	_	38 Rows	case
38	Rows	row	NOUN	Number=Plur	33 swallow	obl
39	of	of	ADP	_	43 Teeth	case
40	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	43 Teeth	amod
41	large	large	ADJ	Degree=Pos	43 Teeth	amod
42	sharp	sharp	ADJ	Degree=Pos	43 Teeth	amod
43	Teeth	Teeth	PROPN	Number=Sing	38 Rows	nmod
44	,	,	PUNCT	_	46 Feet	punct
45	and	and	CCONJ	_	46 Feet	cc
46	Feet	foot	NOUN	Number=Plur	38 Rows	conj
47	like	like	ADP	_	48 Draggons	case
48	Draggons	Draggons	PROPN	Number=Sing	46 Feet	nmod
49	,	,	PUNCT	_	50 armed	punct
50	armed	armed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	38 Rows	amod
51	with	with	ADP	_	53 Claws	case
52	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	53 Claws	amod
53	Claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	50 armed	obl
54	,	,	PUNCT	_	58 Tail	punct
55	and	and	CCONJ	_	58 Tail	cc
56	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	58 Tail	det
57	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	58 Tail	amod
58	Tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 stretching	obl
59	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	61 throw	obj
60	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	61 throw	nsubj
61	throw	throw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	58 Tail	acl:relcl
62	about	about	ADV	_	61 throw	advmod
63	with	with	ADP	_	65 Strength	case
64	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	65 Strength	amod
65	Strength	strength	NOUN	Number=Sing	61 throw	obl
66	,	,	PUNCT	_	69 seems	punct
67	and	and	CCONJ	_	69 seems	cc
68	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	69 seems	nsubj
69	seems	seem	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 says	parataxis
70	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	72 Weapon	nmod:poss
71	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	72 Weapon	amod
72	Weapon	weapon	NOUN	Number=Sing	69 seems	obj
73	,	,	PUNCT	_	79 set	punct
74	for	for	SCONJ	_	79 set	mark
75	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	76 Claws	nmod:poss
76	Claws	claw	NOUN	Number=Plur	79 set	nsubj:pass
77	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	79 set	aux:pass
78	feebly	feebly	ADV	_	79 set	advmod
79	set	set	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	69 seems	conj
80	on	on	ADP	_	79 set	compound:prt
81	,	,	PUNCT	_	88 hinders	punct
82	and	and	CCONJ	_	88 hinders	cc
83	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	84 Stiffness	det
84	Stiffness	stiffness	NOUN	Number=Sing	88 hinders	nsubj
85	of	of	ADP	_	87 Necks	case
86	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	87 Necks	nmod:poss
87	Necks	neck	NOUN	Number=Plur	84 Stiffness	nmod
88	hinders	hinder	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 says	conj
89	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	88 hinders	obj
90	from	from	SCONJ	_	91 turning	mark
91	turning	turn	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	88 hinders	advcl
92	nimbly	nimbly	ADV	_	94 bite	advmod
93	to	to	PART	_	94 bite	mark
94	bite	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	91 turning	xcomp
95	.	.	PUNCT	_	94 bite	punct
96	”	"	PUNCT	_	94 bite	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	describe	gerund	Francis not said here	stores = store	1736		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent they=Theme
2	say speech: assert	present	Francis				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	is in a quote	present	stores = store			terrible property	tree rules
4	look in a quote	to-infinitive	stores = store not said here				vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus
5	stretch in a quote	gerund	Francis not said here	a horrible large mouth		a long Tail obl; open property	vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent mouth=Patient
6	swallow in a quote	to-infinitive	Francis not said here	a Man		with Rows of dreadful large sharp Teeth and Feet like Draggons	vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient
7	throw about in a quote	present	stores = store	a long Tail		with great Strength; about property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme
8	seem in a quote	present		stores's best Weapon		which nsubj	vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme weapon=Attribute
9	set on in a quote	present · passive		stores's Claws		feebly property	vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result
10	hinder in a quote	present	the Stiffness of stores's Necks	stores = store			vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer they=Eventuality
11	turn in a quote	gerund	the Stiffness of stores's Necks not said here				tree rules
12	bite in a quote	to-infinitive	the Stiffness of stores's Necks not said here			nimbly property	vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent

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 21

The tree

Pragmatics

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 21