---
title: After this there was a long period of silence, broken only by the vi… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: After this there was a long period of silence, broken only by the vigorous style in which Uncle Remus puffed away at his pipe. Who acts: this, Uncle. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXVII. Why Mr. Possum Has No Hair on His Tail, with its dependency tre
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXVII. Why Mr. Possum Has No Hair on His Tail, sentence 15

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After this there was a long period of silence, broken only by the vigorous style in which Uncle Remus puffed away at his pipe.

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**Who acts:** this, Uncle · **What happens:** be, break, puff away · **To what, where:** long period, vigorous style

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXVII. Why Mr. Possum Has No Hair on His Tail. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, Uncle), 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:pg2306:30:15
# text = After this there was a long period of silence, broken only by the vigorous style in which Uncle Remus puffed away at his pipe.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	vigorous	vigorous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	style	style	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obl	_	_
19	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	Remus	Remus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	flat	_	_
21	puffed	puff	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
22	away	away	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	pipe	pipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | this | a long period |  |  |  | of silence | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | participle |  | a long period *not said here* |  |  |  | by the vigorous style | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by style=Location |
| 3 | **puff away** | past | Uncle |  |  | the vigorous style |  | at Uncle's pipe; away *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |

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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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