---
title: In the back-waters and in swamps where the alligators made their nes… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: In the back-waters and in swamps where the alligators made their nests, reared their young, and dug their holes, the negroes, during their leisure hours, were fond of capturing them by means of a heavy iron hook fastened to the end of a long, stout pole. Who acts: alligators. A sentence of «Negro my
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/13/38/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Negro myths from the Georgia coast, to…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/) / [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/13/) / 38

# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the back-waters and in swamps where the alligators made their nests, reared their young, and dug their holes, the negroes, during their leisure hours, were fond of capturing them by means of a heavy iron hook fastened to the end of a long, stout pole.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** alligators · **What happens:** make, rear, dig, be, capture, mean · **To what, where:** nests, young, back waters, holes, heavy iron hook

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (alligators), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg76586:13:38
# text = In the back-waters and in swamps where the alligators made their nests, reared their young, and dug their holes, the negroes, during their leisure hours, were fond of capturing them by means of a heavy iron hook fastened to the end of a long, stout pole.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	swamps	swamp	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
9	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	12	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
16	reared	rear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	young	young	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	negroes	negro	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	during	during	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	leisure	leisure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
34	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	parataxis	_	_
35	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
36	capturing	capture	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	advcl	_	_
37	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	parataxis	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
42	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
43	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	hook	hook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
45	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	acl	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
51	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
53	stout	stout	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	pole	pole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the alligators | swamps's nests |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Product |
| 2 | **rear** | past |  | nests's young |  | the back waters and swamps |  |  | vn rear-26.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent young=Patient |
| 3 | **dig** | past |  | nests's holes and the negroes |  |  | hour |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hole=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | fond *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **capture** | gerund |  | holes *= hole* |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 6 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of a heavy iron hook | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **fasten** | participle |  | a heavy iron hook *not said here* |  |  | to the end of a long stout pole |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to end=Co-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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/13/37/)
- next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/13/39/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76586/13/)