--- title: The old man shifted his position in his chair and allowed his venera… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics description: The old man shifted his position in his chair and allowed his venerable head to drop forward until his whole appearance was suggestive of the deepest dejection; and this was intensified by a groan that seemed to be the result of great mental agony. Who acts: old man, venerable head, whole appearance --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/28/7/) [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/) / [XXV. How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Fine Bush…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/28/) / 7 # Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXV. How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Fine Bushy Tail, sentence 7 The old man shifted his position in his chair and allowed his venerable head to drop forward until his whole appearance was suggestive of the deepest dejection; and this was intensified by a groan that seemed to be the result of great mental agony. **Who acts:** old man, venerable head, whole appearance, groan · **What happens:** shift, allow, drop, be, intensify, seem · **To what, where:** position, chair, venerable head, this, result This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXV. How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Fine Bushy Tail. 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, venerable head, whole appearance, groan), 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:pg2306:28:7 # text = The old man shifted his position in his chair and allowed his venerable head to drop forward until his whole appearance was suggestive of the deepest dejection; and this was intensified by a groan that seemed to be the result of great mental agony. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 shifted shift VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 position position NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 chair chair NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 allowed allow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 12 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 13 venerable venerable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 drop drop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 xcomp _ _ 17 forward forward ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 18 until until SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 19 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 20 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 appearance appearance NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 23 suggestive suggestive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 advcl _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 deepest deep ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 27 amod _ _ 27 dejection dejection NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 32 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 30 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 32 nsubj:pass _ _ 31 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux:pass _ _ 32 intensified intensify VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ _ 33 by by ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 groan groan NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 36 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 37 nsubj _ _ 37 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 acl:relcl _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 39 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 41 cop _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 result result NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 xcomp _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 44 mental mental ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 agony agony NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **shift** | past | the old man | man's position | | man's chair | | | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer position=Patient | | 2 | **allow** | past | the old man *not said here* | man's venerable head | | | | | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer head=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **drop** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man's venerable head *not said here* | | | | | forward *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | man's whole appearance | | | | | of the deepest dejection; suggestive *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **intensify** | past · passive | a groan | this | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | | 6 | **seem** | past | a groan | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **is a** | to-infinitive | a groan *not said here* | the result | | | | of great mental agony | 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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/28/6/) - next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/28/8/) - ↑ back to [XXV. How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Fine Bushy Tail](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/28/)