---
title: The hoe, the axe, a fence rail, and the club were the offensive weap… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: The hoe, the axe, a fence rail, and the club were the offensive weapons; and loud were the cries and great was the fun while the struggling reptile was being beaten to death. Who acts: hoe, offensive weapons. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., J
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hoe, the axe, a fence rail, and the club were the offensive weapons; and loud were the cries and great was the fun while the struggling reptile was being beaten to death.

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**Who acts:** hoe, offensive weapons · **What happens:** be, struggle, beat · **To what, where:** offensive weapons, cries, great fun, struggling reptile, death

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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 (hoe, offensive weapons), 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:pg76586:13:37
# text = The hoe, the axe, a fence rail, and the club were the offensive weapons; and loud were the cries and great was the fun while the struggling reptile was being beaten to death.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hoe	hoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	rail	rail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	club	club	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	offensive	offensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	weapons	weapon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
29	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	struggling	struggle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	amod	_	_
32	reptile	reptile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
34	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the hoe and the axe and a fence rail and the club | the offensive weapons |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the offensive weapons | the cries and the great fun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | the offensive weapons *not said here* | the great fun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **struggle** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **beat** | past · passive |  | the struggling reptile | death |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Patient to death=Recipient |

<!-- .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:** «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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- ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/13/)