---
title: Mr. Huntingdon was reading a newspaper; his wife was crooning softly… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: Mr. Huntingdon was reading a newspaper; his wife was crooning softly as she rocked the baby to sleep; and the little boy was endeavoring to show his Aunt Dosia the outlines of Kennesaw Mountain through the purple haze that hung like a wonderfully fashioned curtain in the sky and almost obliterated t
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, A Story of the War, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mr. Huntingdon was reading a newspaper; his wife was crooning softly as she rocked the baby to sleep; and the little boy was endeavoring to show his Aunt Dosia the outlines of Kennesaw Mountain through the purple haze that hung like a wonderfully fashioned curtain in the sky and almost obliterated the horizon.

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**Who acts:** Huntingdon, wife, little boy, purple haze · **What happens:** read, croon, rock, sleep, endeavor, show · **To what, where:** newspaper, baby, outlines, Aunt, purple haze, sky

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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 (Huntingdon, wife, little boy, purple haze), 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:pg2306:46:32
# text = Mr. Huntingdon was reading a newspaper; his wife was crooning softly as she rocked the baby to sleep; and the little boy was endeavoring to show his Aunt Dosia the outlines of Kennesaw Mountain through the purple haze that hung like a wonderfully fashioned curtain in the sky and almost obliterated the horizon.
1	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod:desc	_	_
2	Huntingdon	Huntingdon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	newspaper	newspaper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	crooning	croon	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
12	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	rocked	rock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	endeavoring	endeavor	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	Aunt	Aunt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	Dosia	Dosia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	flat	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	outlines	outline	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	Kennesaw	Kennesaw	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	Mountain	Mountain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	through	through	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	haze	haze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
41	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
42	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
43	like	like	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
45	wonderfully	wonderfully	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	fashioned	fashioned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	curtain	curtain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	obliterated	obliterate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	conj	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	horizon	horizon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past · progressive | Huntingdon  Mr. | a newspaper |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent newspaper=Topic |
| 2 | **croon** *speech: other* | past · progressive | Mr.'s wife |  |  |  |  | softly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **rock** | past | wife | the baby |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location baby=Theme |
| 4 | **sleep** | to-infinitive | wife *not said here* | the baby *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **endeavor** | past · progressive | the little boy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **show** | to-infinitive | the little boy *not said here* | the outlines of Kennesaw Mountain | boy's Aunt | the purple haze |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent aunt=Recipient outline=Topic |
| 7 | **hang** | past | the purple haze |  |  | the sky |  | like a fashioned curtain | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in sky=Location |
| 8 | **obliterate** | past | the purple haze *not said here* | the horizon |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horizon=Patient |

<!-- .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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