--- title: "Funny now, I speck," said the old man, "but 'tweren't funny in dem… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics description: "Funny now, I speck," said the old man, "but 'tweren't funny in dem days, en 'twouldn't be funny now ef folks know'd much 'bout de Bull-frog langwidge ez dey useter. Who acts: old man, en, ef folks, langwidge. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXIV. Mr. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/27/59/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/) / [XXIV. Mr. Bear Catches Old Mr. Bull-frog](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/27/) / 59 # Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXIV. Mr. Bear Catches Old Mr. Bull-frog, sentence 59 "Funny now, I speck," said the old man, "but 'tweren't funny in dem days, en 'twouldn't be funny now ef folks know'd much 'bout de Bull-frog langwidge ez dey useter. **Who acts:** old man, en, ef folks, langwidge · **What happens:** speck, say, not be, know, useter · **To what, where:** much bout · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXIV. Mr. Bear Catches Old Mr. Bull-frog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, en, ef folks, langwidge), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2306:27:59 # text = "Funny now, I speck," said the old man, "but 'tweren't funny in dem days, en 'twouldn't be funny now ef folks know'd much 'bout de Bull-frog langwidge ez dey useter. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Funny funny ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 ccomp _ _ 3 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 2 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 speck speck VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 14 " " PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 16 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 twere twere ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 19 advmod _ _ 19 funny funny ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 parataxis _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 dem dem NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 compound _ _ 22 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 conj _ _ 25 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 twould twould AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 27 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 29 advmod _ _ 28 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 29 cop _ _ 29 funny funny ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 acl:relcl _ _ 30 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 33 advmod _ _ 31 ef ef NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ _ 32 folks folk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 33 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 'd 'd PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ _ 35 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 36 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 bout bout NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 38 de de ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 Bull bull NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 frog frog NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 42 langwidge langwidge NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 43 ez ez ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 44 dey dey NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 useter useter NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **speck** *in a quote* | present | the old man *= man* | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | | en *not said here* | | | | | funny *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **know** *in a quote* | present | ef folks | much bout | | | now | de Bull frog and ez dey useter | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer bout=Stimulus | | 5 | **useter** *in a quote* | | langwidge | | | | | | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/27/58/) - next →: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/27/60/) - ↑ back to [XXIV. Mr. Bear Catches Old Mr. Bull-frog](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/27/)