---
title: At this point Uncle Remus took one of the teacakes, held his head ba… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: At this point Uncle Remus took one of the teacakes, held his head back, opened his mouth, dropped the cake in with a sudden motion, looked at the little boy with an expression of astonishment, and then closed his eyes, and begun to chew, mumbling as an accompaniment the plaintive tune of "Don't you 
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, VII. Mr. Fox Is Again Victimized, sentence 56

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At this point Uncle Remus took one of the teacakes, held his head back, opened his mouth, dropped the cake in with a sudden motion, looked at the little boy with an expression of astonishment, and then closed his eyes, and begun to chew, mumbling as an accompaniment the plaintive tune of "Don't you Grieve atter Me."

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**Who acts:** Uncle, you · **What happens:** take, hold back, open, drop in, look, close · **To what, where:** one, point, head, mouth, cake, eyes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, VII. Mr. Fox Is Again Victimized. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Uncle, you), 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:pg2306:10:56
# text = At this point Uncle Remus took one of the teacakes, held his head back, opened his mouth, dropped the cake in with a sudden motion, looked at the little boy with an expression of astonishment, and then closed his eyes, and begun to chew, mumbling as an accompaniment the plaintive tune of "Don't you Grieve atter Me."
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	Remus	Remus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	_
6	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	teacakes	teacake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cake	cake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	motion	motion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	astonishment	astonishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
43	closed	close	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	chew	chew	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	mumbling	mumble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	50	advcl	_	_
53	as	as	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	accompaniment	accompaniment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	plaintive	plaintive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	tune	tune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
59	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
60	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	Do	do	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	64	advmod	_	_
63	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
64	Grieve	grieve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	acl	_	_
65	atter	atter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	xcomp	_	_
66	Me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	65	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | Uncle | one of the teacakes |  | this point |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent one=Theme at point=Asset |
| 2 | **hold back** | past | Uncle *not said here* | Uncle's head |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 3 | **open** | past | Uncle *not said here* | Uncle's mouth |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mouth=Theme |
| 4 | **drop in** | past | Uncle *not said here* | the cake |  |  |  | with a sudden motion | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cake=Theme |
| 5 | **look** | past | Uncle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the little boy with a expression of astonishment | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at boy=Theme |
| 6 | **close** | past |  | Uncle's eyes |  |  | then |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Patient |
| 7 | **begin** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **chew** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **mumble** *speech: other* | gerund |  | the plaintive tune |  |  |  | as a accompaniment | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tune=Topic |
| 10 | **not** **grieve** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support | you | the plaintive tune *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **atter** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | Me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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