---
title: One day an Irishman who had heard people talking about "mares' nests… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: One day an Irishman who had heard people talking about "mares' nests" was going along the big road--it is always the big road in contradistinction to neighborhood paths and by-paths, called in the vernacular "nigh-cuts"--when he came to a pumpkin--patch. Who acts: heard people, anecdote, negro. A se
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Dear Frost:, sentence 104

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One day an Irishman who had heard people talking about "mares' nests" was going along the big road--it is always the big road in contradistinction to neighborhood paths and by-paths, called in the vernacular "nigh-cuts"--when he came to a pumpkin--patch.

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**Who acts:** heard people, anecdote, negro · **What happens:** hear, talk, go, be, call, come · **To what, where:** Irishman, big road, contradistinction, neighborhood paths, vernacular, pumpkin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (heard people, anecdote, negro), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2306:1:104
# text = One day an Irishman who had heard people talking about "mares' nests" was going along the big road--it is always the big road in contradistinction to neighborhood paths and by-paths, called in the vernacular "nigh-cuts"--when he came to a pumpkin--patch.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Irishman	Irishman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
9	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	mares	mare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	'	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
18	along	along	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
25	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	28	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	contradistinction	contradistinction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	neighborhood	neighborhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	paths	path	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	paths	path	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	acl	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	vernacular	vernacular	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
43	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	nigh	nigh	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	cuts	cut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	51	advmod	_	_
50	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
52	to	to	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	pumpkin	pumpkin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	patch	patch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past · perfect · passive |  | a Irishman |  |  | day |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **talk** | gerund | heard people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about mares's nests | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about nest=Topic |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | heard people |  |  | the big road |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme along road=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **is a** | present | anecdote | the big road |  | contradistinction |  | to neighborhood paths and paths; always *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **call** | participle |  | neighborhood paths and paths *not said here* |  | the vernacular |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **come** | past | negro |  |  | a pumpkin and patch |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to pumpkin=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .note -->
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.

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**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.

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