---
title: The tooth came out so suddenly that the old man, losing his balance,… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: The tooth came out so suddenly that the old man, losing his balance, fell heavily against the door of the smoke-house, while John tumbled in the opposite direction, yelling with pain, and protesting that “Uncle Jack done broke eh jaw.” Who acts: tooth, John, Uncle. A sentence of «Negro myths from th
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 15

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The tooth came out so suddenly that the old man, losing his balance, fell heavily against the door of the smoke-house, while John tumbled in the opposite direction, yelling with pain, and protesting that “Uncle Jack done broke eh jaw.”

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**Who acts:** tooth, John, Uncle · **What happens:** come out, lose, fall, tumble, yell, protest · **To what, where:** balance, door, eh jaw · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tooth, John, Uncle), 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:pg76586:13:15
# text = The tooth came out so suddenly that the old man, losing his balance, fell heavily against the door of the smoke-house, while John tumbled in the opposite direction, yelling with pain, and protesting that “Uncle Jack done broke eh jaw.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	balance	balance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
17	heavily	heavily	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	against	against	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	tumbled	tumble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	opposite	opposite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	yelling	yell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	advcl	_	_
36	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	protesting	protest	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	conj	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
42	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	Uncle	Uncle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
44	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	flat	_	_
45	done	done	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	flat	_	_
46	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	_
47	eh	eh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	jaw	jaw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come out** | past | the tooth |  |  |  |  | the old man *advcl*; out, suddenly *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **lose** | gerund | the tooth *not said here* | John's balance |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent balance=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fall** | past |  |  |  | the door of the smoke house |  | heavily *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme against door=Location |
| 4 | **tumble** | past | John |  |  |  |  | in the opposite direction | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in direction=Attribute |
| 5 | **yell** *speech: express* | gerund | John *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with pain | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **protest** *speech: disagree* | gerund | John *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn rebel-71.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **break** *in a quote* | past | Uncle | eh jaw |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer jaw=Patient |
| 8 | **balance** |  | John |  |  |  |  |  | nom balance «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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