---
title: The tortoise thereupon gets a vine-stem, ties one end around the bod… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: The tortoise thereupon gets a vine-stem, ties one end around the body of the tapir, and goes to the sea, where he ties the other end to the tail of a whale. Who acts: tortoise. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, Dear Frost:, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Dear Frost:, sentence 42

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The tortoise thereupon gets a vine-stem, ties one end around the body of the tapir, and goes to the sea, where he ties the other end to the tail of a whale.

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**Who acts:** tortoise · **What happens:** get, tie, go · **To what, where:** vine stem, one end, body, sea, other end

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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 (tortoise), 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:pg2306:1:42
# text = The tortoise thereupon gets a vine-stem, ties one end around the body of the tapir, and goes to the sea, where he ties the other end to the tail of a whale.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	thereupon	thereupon	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	gets	get	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	vine	vine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	stem	stem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	ties	tie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	around	around	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	tapir	tapir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	28	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	ties	tie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | present | the tortoise | a vine stem |  |  |  | thereupon *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer stem=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tie** | present | the tortoise *not said here* | one end |  | the body of the tapir |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent end=Patient |
| 3 | **go** | present | the tortoise *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to sea=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **tie** | present | tortoise | the other end |  |  |  | to the tail of a whale | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent end=Patient to tail=Co-Patient |

<!-- .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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