---
title: It was in vain that she argued with herself as to the propriety of u… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: It was in vain that she argued with herself as to the propriety of undertaking the journey alone and unprotected, and she finally put an end to inward and outward doubts by informing herself and her friends, including John Huntingdon, her brother, who was practicing law in Atlanta, that she had deci
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, A Story of the War, sentence 3

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It was in vain that she argued with herself as to the propriety of undertaking the journey alone and unprotected, and she finally put an end to inward and outward doubts by informing herself and her friends, including John Huntingdon, her brother, who was practicing law in Atlanta, that she had decided to visit the South.

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**Who acts:** region, Vermont, propriety, brother · **What happens:** be, argue, undertake, put, inform, practice · **To what, where:** journey, end, Vermont, law, Atlanta, South

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, A Story of the War. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (region, Vermont, propriety, brother), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2306:46:3
# text = It was in vain that she argued with herself as to the propriety of undertaking the journey alone and unprotected, and she finally put an end to inward and outward doubts by informing herself and her friends, including John Huntingdon, her brother, who was practicing law in Atlanta, that she had decided to visit the South.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	argued	argue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obl	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	propriety	propriety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
14	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	undertaking	undertake	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	unprotected	unprotected	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	inward	inward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	outward	outward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	_
32	doubts	doubt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
33	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
34	informing	inform	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
35	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	34	obj	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	including	including	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
42	Huntingdon	Huntingdon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	49	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	practicing	practice	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	acl	_	_
50	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	Atlanta	Atlanta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
55	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	decided	decide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	visit	visit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	South	South	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | region |  |  |  |  | vain *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | past | Vermont |  |  |  |  | with Vermont; as the propriety | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with herself=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **undertake** | gerund | the propriety *not said here* | the journey |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent journey=Eventuality |
| 4 | **put** | past | Vermont | a end |  |  |  | to inward doubts; finally *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent end=Goal |
| 5 | **inform** *speech: other* | gerund | Vermont *not said here* | Vermont |  |  |  | Vermont's brother *obl* | tree rules |
| 6 | **practice** | past · progressive | Vermont's brother | law |  | Atlanta |  |  | vn rehearse-26.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent law=Theme |
| 7 | **decide** | past · perfect | Vermont |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **visit** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Vermont *not said here* | the South |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent south=Co-Agent |

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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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