---
title: At least it is a fable thoroughly characteristic of the negro; and i… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: At least it is a fable thoroughly characteristic of the negro; and it needs no scientific investigation to show why he selects as his hero the weakest and most harmless of all animals, and brings him out victorious in contests with the bear, the wolf, and the fox. Who acts: interpretation, negro. A 
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, Dear Frost:, sentence 98

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At least it is a fable thoroughly characteristic of the negro; and it needs no scientific investigation to show why he selects as his hero the weakest and most harmless of all animals, and brings him out victorious in contests with the bear, the wolf, and the fox.

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**Who acts:** interpretation, negro · **What happens:** be, need, show, select, bring out · **To what, where:** characteristic, least, scientific investigation, negro, contests · **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 (interpretation, 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:pg2306:1:98
# text = At least it is a fable thoroughly characteristic of the negro; and it needs no scientific investigation to show why he selects as his hero the weakest and most harmless of all animals, and brings him out victorious in contests with the bear, the wolf, and the fox.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	nmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fable	fable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	thoroughly	thoroughly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	negro	negro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
17	scientific	scientific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	investigation	investigation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	selects	select	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	ccomp	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	weakest	weak	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	26	conj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
31	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	conj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	det	_	_
34	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	brings	bring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	iobj	_	_
39	out	out	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
40	victorious	victorious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	xcomp	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	contests	contest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | interpretation | characteristic and the fox |  | least |  | of the negro; thoroughly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **need** | present | interpretation | no scientific investigation |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot investigation=Theme |
| 3 | **show** | to-infinitive | interpretation *not said here* | no scientific investigation *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **select** | present | negro |  |  |  |  | as negro's hero | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent as hero=Attribute |
| 5 | **bring out** | present | interpretation *not said here* |  | negro | contests with the bear and the wolf |  | victorious *property* | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

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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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