---
title: They were unpleasant, for the attention of a wandering policeman was… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: They were unpleasant, for the attention of a wandering policeman was called to the matter by hearing the old man bawl out: Who acts: words. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XVII. As to Education, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XVII. As to Education, sentence 3

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They were unpleasant, for the attention of a wandering policeman was called to the matter by hearing the old man bawl out:

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**Who acts:** words · **What happens:** be, wonder, call, hear out · **To what, where:** attention, matter, old man bawl · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XVII. As to Education. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (words), 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:pg2306:63:3
# text = They were unpleasant, for the attention of a wandering policeman was called to the matter by hearing the old man bawl out:
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	wandering	wonder	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	amod	_	_
11	policeman	policeman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
18	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	bawl	bawl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
23	out	out	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | words *= word* |  |  |  |  | for the attention; unpleasant *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **call** | past · passive |  | the attention *not said here* | the matter |  |  | of a wandering policeman | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: to matter=Recipient |
| 4 | **hear out** | gerund |  | the old man bawl |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer bawl=Stimulus |

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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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