---
title: Bartram says that when he visited the River St. John the alligators… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Bartram says that when he visited the River St. John the alligators at one point “were in such incredible numbers, and so close together from shore to shore, that it would have been easy to have walked across on their heads, had the animals been harmless.” Who acts: Bartram, animals. A sentence of «
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 51

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Bartram says that when he visited the River St. John the alligators at one point “were in such incredible numbers, and so close together from shore to shore, that it would have been easy to have walked across on their heads, had the animals been harmless.”

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**Who acts:** Bartram, animals · **What happens:** say, visit, be, close, walk, have · **To what, where:** River John, one point, such incredible numbers, shore, heads · **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 (Bartram, animals), 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:pg76586:13:51
# text = Bartram says that when he visited the River St. John the alligators at one point “were in such incredible numbers, and so close together from shore to shore, that it would have been easy to have walked across on their heads, had the animals been harmless.”
1	Bartram	Bartram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	visited	visit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	River	River	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
9	St.	St.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:desc	_	_
10	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	alligators	alligator	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	incredible	incredible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	close	close	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
26	together	together	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	expl	_	_
34	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
35	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux	_	_
36	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	37	cop	_	_
37	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	advcl	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
39	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux	_	_
40	walked	walk	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	37	xcomp	_	_
41	across	across	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
49	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	50	cop	_	_
50	harmless	harmless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Bartram |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **visit** | past | Bartram | the River John  St. |  | one point and such incredible numbers |  | the alligators *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Bartram *not said here* |  |  | such incredible numbers |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **close** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | shore |  |  | to shore; together *property* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to shore=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **walk** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · perfect |  |  |  | shores's heads |  | across *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on head=Trajectory |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | past | Bartram *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** *in a quote* | participle | the animals |  |  |  |  | harmless *property* | tree rules |

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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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