---
title: "It's mighty col' wedder," said Brer John Henry, evidently wishing t… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: "It's mighty col' wedder," said Brer John Henry, evidently wishing to change the subject. Who acts: w'at, mighty col. A sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XX. the Old Man's Troubles, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XX. the Old Man's Troubles, sentence 10

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"It's mighty col' wedder," said Brer John Henry, evidently wishing to change the subject.

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**Who acts:** w'at, mighty col · **What happens:** be, say, wish, change · **To what, where:** mighty col, subject · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings» by Joel Chandler Harris, XX. the Old Man's Troubles. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (w'at, mighty col), 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:pg2306:66:10
# text = "It's mighty col' wedder," said Brer John Henry, evidently wishing to change the subject.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	col	col	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
7	wedder	wedder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
13	Henry	Henry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	evidently	evidently	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	wishing	wish	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | w'at | mighty col and wedder |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | mighty col and wedder |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wish** | gerund | mighty col and wedder *not said here* |  |  |  |  | evidently *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **change** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | mighty col and wedder *not said here* | the subject |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

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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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