--- title: Twa'n't long 'fo' de nigger year his brer holler'n en squallin', en… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics description: Twa'n't long 'fo' de nigger year his brer holler'n en squallin', en he tuck a light, he did, en went out, en dar wuz his brer des a waller'n on de groun' en squirmin' 'roun', kaze de salt on de skin wuz stingin' wuss'n ef he had his britches lineded wid yallerjackets. Who acts: brer, en, britches. A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/34/58/) [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/) / [XXXI. a Plantation Witch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/34/) / 58 # Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXXI. a Plantation Witch, sentence 58 Twa'n't long 'fo' de nigger year his brer holler'n en squallin', en he tuck a light, he did, en went out, en dar wuz his brer des a waller'n on de groun' en squirmin' 'roun', kaze de salt on de skin wuz stingin' wuss'n ef he had his britches lineded wid yallerjackets. **Who acts:** brer, en, britches · **What happens:** en, tuck, do, go out, de, have · **To what, where:** light, dar wuz, wuss'n ef, wid yallerjackets This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXXI. a Plantation Witch. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brer, en, britches), 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:pg2306:34:58 # text = Twa'n't long 'fo' de nigger year his brer holler'n en squallin', en he tuck a light, he did, en went out, en dar wuz his brer des a waller'n on de groun' en squirmin' 'roun', kaze de salt on de skin wuz stingin' wuss'n ef he had his britches lineded wid yallerjackets. 1 Twa' twa' AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 2 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 3 advmod _ _ 3 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 23 advmod _ _ 4 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 fo for ADP IN Abbr=Yes 9 case _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ _ 7 de de ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 8 nigger nigger NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 compound _ _ 9 year year NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 brer brer NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 12 holler'n holler'n CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 conj _ _ 14 squallin squallin NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ', ', PART POS _ 14 dep _ _ 16 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 tuck tuck VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 16 acl _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 26 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 27 out out ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ _ 30 dar dar NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 wuz wuz NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 brer brer NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 34 des de VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 parataxis _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 waller'n waller'n NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 on on ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 de de X FW Foreign=Yes 39 compound _ _ 39 groun groun NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 42 punct _ _ 41 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 compound _ _ 42 squirmin squirmin NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 42 punct _ _ 44 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 roun roun NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 46 ', ', PUNCT '' _ 45 punct _ _ 47 kaze kaze NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 48 de de X FW Foreign=Yes 49 compound _ _ 49 salt salt NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nmod _ _ 50 on on ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 51 de de ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 52 skin skin NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 compound _ _ 53 wuz wuz NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 compound _ _ 54 stingin stingin NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 55 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 57 punct _ _ 56 wuss'n wuss'n NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 compound _ _ 57 ef ef NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 appos _ _ 58 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 59 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 57 acl:relcl _ _ 60 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 61 nmod:poss _ _ 61 britches britch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 62 nsubj _ _ 62 lineded lined VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 ccomp _ _ 63 wid wid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 64 amod _ _ 64 yallerjackets yallerjacket NOUN NNS Number=Plur 62 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 23 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **en** | | en's brer holler'n en | | | | year | | tree rules | | 2 | **tuck** | infinitive | en | a light | | | | | vn funnel-9.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent light=Theme | | 3 | **do** | past | en | | | | | long *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **go out** | past | en | | | | | | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **de** | present | en's brer | dar wuz | | | | squirmin roun kaze de salt on wuz stingin *obl* | tree rules | | 6 | **have** | past | en | wuss'n ef *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **lined** | past | en's britches | wid yallerjackets | | | | | 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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/34/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/34/59/) - ↑ back to [XXXI. a Plantation Witch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/34/)