---
title: For many years prior to his death he was practically “off duty,” kee… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: For many years prior to his death he was practically “off duty,” keeping in-doors whenever he did not feel entirely well, and in pleasant weather working in the vegetable garden. Who acts: DADDY, duty, pleasant weather. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Ch
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 75

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For many years prior to his death he was practically “off duty,” keeping in-doors whenever he did not feel entirely well, and in pleasant weather working in the vegetable garden.

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**Who acts:** DADDY, duty, pleasant weather · **What happens:** be, keep, not feel, work, die · **To what, where:** doors

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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 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (DADDY, duty, pleasant weather), 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:pg76586:14:75
# text = For many years prior to his death he was practically “off duty,” keeping in-doors whenever he did not feel entirely well, and in pleasant weather working in the vegetable garden.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
4	prior	prior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	7	case	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	fixed	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	practically	practically	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	off	off	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
16	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
20	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	24	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
25	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	pleasant	pleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	weather	weather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
32	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	acl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	vegetable	vegetable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | DADDY |  |  |  | year | off duty and pleasant weather; prior DADDY's death; pleasant weather *conj*; practically *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep** | gerund | duty and pleasant weather *not said here* |  |  | doors |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in door=Location |
| 3 | **not** **feel** | past · do-support | DADDY |  |  |  |  | entirely, whenever *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **work** | gerund | pleasant weather *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in the vegetable garden | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in garden=Theme |
| 5 | **die** |  | DADDY |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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