--- title: "W'iles I wuz crossin' de branch des now," he said, endeavoring to c… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics description: "W'iles I wuz crossin' de branch des now," he said, endeavoring to change the subject, "I come up wid a Jacky-my-lantern, en she wuz bu'nin' wuss'n a bunch er lightnin'-bugs, mon. I know'd she wuz a fixin' fer ter lead me inter dat quogmire down in de swamp, en I steer'd cle'r an' er. Who acts: W'il --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/35/3/) [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/) / [XXXII. "jacky-my-lantern" \*1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/35/) / 3 # Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXXII. "jacky-my-lantern" \*1, sentence 3 "W'iles I wuz crossin' de branch des now," he said, endeavoring to change the subject, "I come up wid a Jacky-my-lantern, en she wuz bu'nin' wuss'n a bunch er lightnin'-bugs, mon. I know'd she wuz a fixin' fer ter lead me inter dat quogmire down in de swamp, en I steer'd cle'r an' er. **Who acts:** W'iles, armed, endeavoring, Jacky, lightnin bugs · **What happens:** wuz, say, endeavor, change, come up, wi · **To what, where:** crossin, subject, mon., fer ter, armed, de swamp · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXXII. "jacky-my-lantern" \*1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (W'iles, armed, endeavoring, Jacky), 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:pg2306:35:3 # text = "W'iles I wuz crossin' de branch des now," he said, endeavoring to change the subject, "I come up wid a Jacky-my-lantern, en she wuz bu'nin' wuss'n a bunch er lightnin'-bugs, mon. I know'd she wuz a fixin' fer ter lead me inter dat quogmire down in de swamp, en I steer'd cle'r an' er. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 W'iles w'ile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 3 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 wuz wuz VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 ccomp _ _ 5 crossin crossin NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 7 de de X FW Foreign=Yes 8 compound _ _ 8 branch branch NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 9 des des X FW _ 8 flat:foreign _ _ 10 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 14 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 16 endeavoring endeavor VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 26 csubj _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 change change VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 advcl _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 subject subject NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 " " PUNCT `` _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 come come VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 conj _ _ 25 up up ADP RP _ 24 compound:prt _ _ 26 wid wi VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 ccomp _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 28 Jacky Jacky PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 32 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 lantern lantern NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 34 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 conj _ _ 35 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 wuz wuz NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 compound _ _ 37 bu'nin bu'nin NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 37 punct _ _ 39 wuss'n wuss'n CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 bunch bunch NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 conj _ _ 42 er er PUNCT `` _ 43 punct _ _ 43 lightnin lightnin NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 bugs bug NOUN NNS Number=Plur 53 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 48 mon. Monday PROPN NNP Abbr=Yes|Number=Sing 46 appos _ _ 49 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 50 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 'd would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 53 aux _ _ 52 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 nsubj _ _ 53 wuz wuz VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 acl:relcl _ _ 54 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 fixin fixin NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 56 ' 's PART POS _ 55 case _ _ 57 fer fer NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 compound _ _ 58 ter ter NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obj _ _ 59 lead lea VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 conj _ _ 60 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 59 obj _ _ 61 inter int ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 63 amod _ _ 62 dat dat NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 compound _ _ 63 quogmire quogmire NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obj _ _ 64 down down ADV RB _ 59 advmod _ _ 65 in in ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 de de ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 67 amod _ _ 67 swamp swamp NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 68 , , PUNCT , _ 69 punct _ _ 69 en en NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 conj _ _ 70 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 71 nsubj _ _ 71 steer steer VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 69 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 72 'd would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 73 aux _ _ 73 cle'r cle'r VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 71 ccomp _ _ 74 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 76 det _ SpaceAfter=No 75 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 76 punct _ _ 76 er er NOUN NN Number=Sing 73 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 77 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **wuz** *in a quote* | present | W'iles | crossin | | | now | de branch *obl* | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | armed | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **endeavor** | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **change** | to-infinitive | | the subject | | | | | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | | 5 | **come up** *in a quote* | present | armed | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **wi** *in a quote* | past | endeavoring | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **lantern** *in a quote* | | Jacky | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **bu'nin** *in a quote* | | Jacky | | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **know** *in a quote* | present | armed | mon. *not said here* | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer monday=Stimulus | | 10 | **wuz** *in a quote* | would | lightnin bugs | a fixin's fer ter | | | | | tree rules | | 11 | **lea** *in a quote* | past | armed *not said here* | armed | | de swamp and en | | down *property* | tree rules | | 12 | **steer** *in a quote* | present | armed | en *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 13 | **cle'r** *in a quote* | would | armed *not said here* | a er | | | | | 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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/35/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/35/4/) - ↑ back to [XXXII. "jacky-my-lantern" \*1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2306/35/)