---
title: Each legend has its variants, but in every instance I have retained… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: Each legend has its variants, but in every instance I have retained that particular version which seemed to me to be the most characteristic, and have given it without embellishment and without exaggeration. Who acts: legend, I, particular version, most characteristic. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, Hi
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Dear Frost:, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Each legend has its variants, but in every instance I have retained that particular version which seemed to me to be the most characteristic, and have given it without embellishment and without exaggeration.

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**Who acts:** legend, I, particular version, most characteristic, purpose · **What happens:** have, retain, seem, be, give, vary · **To what, where:** variants, instance, me, most characteristic, purpose

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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 (legend, I, particular version, most characteristic), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg2306:1:26
# text = Each legend has its variants, but in every instance I have retained that particular version which seemed to me to be the most characteristic, and have given it without embellishment and without exaggeration.
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	legend	legend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	variants	variant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	retained	retain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	particular	particular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	advcl	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	amod	_	_
25	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	without	without	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	embellishment	embellishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	without	without	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	exaggeration	exaggeration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | each legend | purpose's variants |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent variant=Patient |
| 2 | **retain** | present · perfect | I |  |  | every instance |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **seem** | past | particular version |  | me |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | to-infinitive | particular version *not said here* | the most characteristic |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | present · perfect | the most characteristic *not said here* | purpose |  |  |  | without embellishment and exaggeration | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 6 | **vary** |  | purpose |  |  |  |  |  | nom variant «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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