--- title: He was singing when the little boy got near the cabin, and the child… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics description: He was singing when the little boy got near the cabin, and the child paused on the outside to listen to the vigorous but mellow voice of the old man, as it rose and fell with the burden of the curiously plaintive song--a senseless affair so far as the words were concerned, but sung to a melody almos --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/31/3/) [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/) / [XXVIII. the End of Mr. Bear](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/31/) / 3 # Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXVIII. the End of Mr. Bear, sentence 3 He was singing when the little boy got near the cabin, and the child paused on the outside to listen to the vigorous but mellow voice of the old man, as it rose and fell with the burden of the curiously plaintive song--a senseless affair so far as the words were concerned, but sung to a melody almost thrilling in its sweetness: **Who acts:** boy, little boy, child, words · **What happens:** sing, get, pause, listen, rise, fall · **To what, where:** cabin, outside, melody, sweetness, curiously plaintive song This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXVIII. the End of Mr. Bear. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, little boy, child, words), 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:pg2306:31:3 # text = He was singing when the little boy got near the cabin, and the child paused on the outside to listen to the vigorous but mellow voice of the old man, as it rose and fell with the burden of the curiously plaintive song--a senseless affair so far as the words were concerned, but sung to a melody almost thrilling in its sweetness: 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 singing sing VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 8 advmod _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 8 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 advcl _ _ 9 near near ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 cabin cabin NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 paused pause VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 conj _ _ 17 on on ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 outside outside NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 21 mark _ _ 21 listen listen VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 advcl _ _ 22 to to ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 24 vigorous vigorous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 25 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 mellow mellow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 conj _ _ 27 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 as as SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 rose rise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 advcl _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 conj _ _ 38 with with ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 burden burden NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 43 curiously curiously ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 44 plaintive plaintive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 song song NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 -- -- PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 48 senseless senseless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 affair affair NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 conj _ _ 50 so so ADV RB _ 51 advmod _ _ 51 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 37 advmod _ _ 52 as as SCONJ IN _ 56 mark _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 56 nsubj _ _ 55 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 cop _ _ 56 concerned concerned ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 57 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 58 but but CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 sung sing VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 16 conj _ _ 60 to to ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 melody melody NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obl _ _ 63 almost almost ADV RB _ 64 advmod _ _ 64 thrilling thrill VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 59 advcl _ _ 65 in in ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 67 nmod:poss _ _ 67 sweetness sweetness NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 68 : : PUNCT : _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past · progressive | boy | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location | | 2 | **get** | past | the little boy | | | the cabin | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **pause** | participle | the child | | | the outside | | | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on outside=Location | | 4 | **listen** | to-infinitive | the child *not said here* | | | | | to the vigorous voice of the old man | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to voice=Theme | | 5 | **rise** | past | child | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **fall** | past | child *not said here* | | | | | with the burden of the curiously plaintive song and a senseless affair; far *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **is** | past | the words | | | | | concerned *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **sing** *speech: express* | participle | the child *not said here* | | a melody | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to melody=Recipient | | 9 | **thrill** | gerund | the child *not said here* | | | child's sweetness | | almost *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 10 | **burden** | | | the curiously plaintive song and a senseless affair | | | | | nom burden «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/31/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/31/4/) - ↑ back to [XXVIII. the End of Mr. Bear](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/31/)