---
title: In the absence of a suitable instrument, a strong twine string, well… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: In the absence of a suitable instrument, a strong twine string, well waxed, sufficed to pull out an incisor. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 12, sentence 119

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In the absence of a suitable instrument, a strong twine string, well waxed, sufficed to pull out an incisor.

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**What happens:** wax, suffice, pull out, absent · **To what, where:** incisor, absence, suitable instrument

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This is a sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg76586:12:119
# text = In the absence of a suitable instrument, a strong twine string, well waxed, sufficed to pull out an incisor.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	suitable	suitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	instrument	instrument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	twine	twine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
15	waxed	wax	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	sufficed	suffice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	incisor	incisor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wax** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **suffice** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pull out** | to-infinitive |  | a incisor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **absent** |  |  | a suitable instrument |  |  |  |  | nom absence «state transitive»: of=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:** «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Project Gutenberg book 76586 (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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