---
title: He discovered that the palms of the old man's hands were as white as… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: He discovered that the palms of the old man's hands were as white as his own, and the fact was such a source of wonder that he at last made it the subject of remark. Who acts: boy, palms, fact. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXXIII. Why the Negro Is B
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XXXIII. Why the Negro Is Black, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He discovered that the palms of the old man's hands were as white as his own, and the fact was such a source of wonder that he at last made it the subject of remark.

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**Who acts:** boy, palms, fact · **What happens:** discover, be, make · **To what, where:** source, that

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XXXIII. Why the Negro Is Black. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, palms, fact), 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:pg2306:36:2
# text = He discovered that the palms of the old man's hands were as white as his own, and the fact was such a source of wonder that he at last made it the subject of remark.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	discovered	discover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	palms	palm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	's	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	as	as	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	25	det:predet	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	source	source	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	wonder	wonder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	obj	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	nmod	_	_
32	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	remark	remark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **discover** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the palms of the old man's hands |  |  |  |  | as boy's own; white *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | the fact | such source |  |  |  | of wonder | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | past | boy | that |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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