---
title: The little boy never had, but he had heard of them, and he wanted to… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: The little boy never had, but he had heard of them, and he wanted to know what they were, and thereupon Uncle Remus proceeded to tell him. Who acts: little boy, boy, Uncle. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXXII. "jacky-my-lantern" *1, with its dependen
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXXII. "jacky-my-lantern" \*1, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little boy never had, but he had heard of them, and he wanted to know what they were, and thereupon Uncle Remus proceeded to tell him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** little boy, boy, Uncle · **What happens:** not have, hear, want, know, proceed, tell · **To what, where:** Uncle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (little boy, boy, Uncle), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg2306:35:7
# text = The little boy never had, but he had heard of them, and he wanted to know what they were, and thereupon Uncle Remus proceeded to tell him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	obj	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	thereupon	thereupon	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
25	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	Remus	Remus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	flat	_	_
27	proceeded	proceed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | past | the little boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hear** | past · perfect | boy |  |  |  |  | of lantern | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of they=Stimulus |
| 3 | **want** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 5 | **proceed** | past | Uncle |  |  |  |  | thereupon *property* | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Uncle *not said here* |  | Uncle |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

<!-- .note -->
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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