--- title: It would be presumptuous in me to offer an opinion as to the origin… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics description: It would be presumptuous in me to offer an opinion as to the origin of these curious myth-stories; but, if ethnologists should discover that they did not originate with the African, the proof to that effect should be accompanied with a good deal of persuasive eloquence. Who acts: interpretation, eth --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/1/100/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/) / [Dear Frost:](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/1/) / 100 # Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Dear Frost:, sentence 100 It would be presumptuous in me to offer an opinion as to the origin of these curious myth-stories; but, if ethnologists should discover that they did not originate with the African, the proof to that effect should be accompanied with a good deal of persuasive eloquence. **Who acts:** interpretation, ethnologists · **What happens:** be, offer, discover, not originate, accompany, deal · **To what, where:** opinion, proof, persuasive eloquence 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, ethnologists), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg2306:1:100 # text = It would be presumptuous in me to offer an opinion as to the origin of these curious myth-stories; but, if ethnologists should discover that they did not originate with the African, the proof to that effect should be accompanied with a good deal of persuasive eloquence. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 4 cop _ _ 4 presumptuous presumptuous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 in in ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 obl _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 offer offer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 advcl _ _ 9 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 opinion opinion NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 11 as as ADP IN ExtPos=ADP 14 case _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 11 fixed _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 origin origin NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 16 these this PRON DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 20 nsubj _ _ 17 curious curious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 18 myth myth NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 19 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 stories story NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 22 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 24 if if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 ethnologists ethnologist NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 26 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 discover discover VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 32 originate originate VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 ccomp _ _ 33 with with ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 African African ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 proof proof NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 41 det _ _ 41 effect effect NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 42 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 43 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 44 aux:pass _ _ 44 accompanied accompany VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 parataxis _ _ 45 with with ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 46 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 47 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 amod _ _ 48 deal deal NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ _ 49 of of ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 persuasive persuasive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 amod _ _ 51 eloquence eloquence NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | would | interpretation | | | | | in me; presumptuous *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **offer** | to-infinitive | interpretation *not said here* | a opinion | | | | as the origin of curious myth stories | vn volunteer-95.4 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent opinion=Pivot as origin=Attribute | | 3 | **discover** *a condition, not said to happen* | should | ethnologists | | | | | | vn discover-84-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **not** **originate** | past · do-support | ethnologists *= ethnologist* | | | | | with the African | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with african=Instrument | | 5 | **accompany** | should · passive | | the proof to that effect | | | | with a good deal of persuasive eloquence | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 6 | **deal** | | | persuasive eloquence | | | | | nom deal «act transitive»: of=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. - ← previous: [sentence 99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/1/99/) - next →: [sentence 101](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/1/101/) - ↑ back to [Dear Frost:](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/1/)