---
title: W'en a ole nigger like me is gotter paddle de canoe an' do de fishin… — Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings · tree and pragmatics
description: W'en a ole nigger like me is gotter paddle de canoe an' do de fishin' at de same time, an' w'en you bleedzd ter ketch de fish an' dassent turn de paddle loose fer ter bait de hook, den I tell you, Brer John, you er right whar de mink had de goslin'. Who acts: W'en, de canoe, I, you. A sentence of «U
---

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# Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, XX. the Old Man's Troubles, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
W'en a ole nigger like me is gotter paddle de canoe an' do de fishin' at de same time, an' w'en you bleedzd ter ketch de fish an' dassent turn de paddle loose fer ter bait de hook, den I tell you, Brer John, you er right whar de mink had de goslin'.

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**Who acts:** W'en, de canoe, I, you, de mink · **What happens:** be, do, bleedz, tell, er, have · **To what, where:** gotter paddle, de fishin, ter ketch, Brer John, you, right whar · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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'en, de canoe, I, you), 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:pg2306:66:3
# text = W'en a ole nigger like me is gotter paddle de canoe an' do de fishin' at de same time, an' w'en you bleedzd ter ketch de fish an' dassent turn de paddle loose fer ter bait de hook, den I tell you, Brer John, you er right whar de mink had de goslin'.
1	W'en	W'en	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	ole	ole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	nigger	nigger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	gotter	gott	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	paddle	paddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	de	de	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	_
14	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	16	compound	_	_
16	fishin	fishin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	de	de	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	_
25	w'en	w'en	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	bleedzd	bleedz	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
28	ter	t	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	amod	_	_
29	ketch	ketch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	31	compound	_	_
31	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
32	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	35	punct	_	_
34	dassent	dassent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	turn	turn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
36	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	35	flat:foreign	_	_
37	paddle	paddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	_
38	loose	loose	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	fer	f	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	41	amod	_	_
40	ter	ter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	bait	bait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	_
42	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	43	compound	_	_
43	hook	hook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	den	den	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	_
46	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	parataxis	_	_
48	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	47	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	compound	_	_
51	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
53	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	er	er	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
55	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	whar	whar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
57	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	58	compound	_	_
58	mink	mink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nsubj	_	_
59	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	acl:relcl	_	_
60	de	de	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	61	compound	_	_
61	goslin	goslin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	61	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | W'en | gotter paddle and de canoe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | infinitive | de canoe *not said here* | de fishin |  |  | time |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fishin=Eventuality |
| 3 | **bleedz** | past | a w'en | ter ketch and de fish |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | I | Brer John | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 5 | **er** | present | you | right whar |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **have** | past | de mink | de goslin |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent goslin=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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