---
title: In this idiotic and frightened manner he stood idly talking, until w… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: In this idiotic and frightened manner he stood idly talking, until what proved to be a large alligator approached and laid violent hold of his right leg. Who acts: Mossa, large alligator. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, pa
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 74

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In this idiotic and frightened manner he stood idly talking, until what proved to be a large alligator approached and laid violent hold of his right leg.

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**Who acts:** Mossa, large alligator · **What happens:** stand, talk, prove, be, lay, hold · **To what, where:** idiotic manner, violent hold, right leg

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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 (Mossa, large alligator), 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:pg76586:13:74
# text = In this idiotic and frightened manner he stood idly talking, until what proved to be a large alligator approached and laid violent hold of his right leg.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
3	idiotic	idiotic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
6	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	idly	idly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
14	proved	prove	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	alligator	alligator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
23	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | Mossa |  |  | this idiotic manner |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in manner=Location |
| 2 | **talk** | gerund | Mossa *not said here* |  |  |  |  | idly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **prove** | past |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | a large alligator |  |  |  |  | approach *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **lay** | past | a large alligator *not said here* | violent hold of Mossa's right leg |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Result |
| 6 | **hold** |  |  | Mossa's right leg |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act 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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