---
title: Jack endeavored, with the left hand, to keep him down, while he tugg… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Jack endeavored, with the left hand, to keep him down, while he tugged lustily at the tooth with his right. Who acts: Jack. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Charles C., Jr. Jones, Opening, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 13, sentence 8

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Jack endeavored, with the left hand, to keep him down, while he tugged lustily at the tooth with his right.

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**Who acts:** Jack · **What happens:** endeavor, keep down, tug · **To what, where:** Jack

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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 (Jack), 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:pg76586:13:8
# text = Jack endeavored, with the left hand, to keep him down, while he tugged lustily at the tooth with his right.
1	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	endeavored	endeavor	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	down	down	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	tugged	tug	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	lustily	lustily	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	right	right	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **endeavor** | past | Jack |  |  |  |  | the left hand *ccomp* | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep down** | to-infinitive | Jack *not said here* | Jack |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 3 | **tug** | past | Jack |  |  |  |  | with Jack's right; at the tooth; lustily *property* | vn push-12-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent at tooth=Theme |

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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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