---
title: A widower and without children, he led, in the main, a retired life;… — Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the… · tree and pragmatics
description: A widower and without children, he led, in the main, a retired life; seldom visiting at the houses of the other negroes on the plantation, but always chatting pleasantly with all who came to see him. Who acts: widower. A sentence of «Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular» by Cha
---

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# Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular, Opening, part 14, sentence 77

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A widower and without children, he led, in the main, a retired life; seldom visiting at the houses of the other negroes on the plantation, but always chatting pleasantly with all who came to see him.

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**Who acts:** widower · **What happens:** lead, visit, chat, come, see · **To what, where:** houses, DADDY

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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 (widower), 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:pg76586:14:77
# text = A widower and without children, he led, in the main, a retired life; seldom visiting at the houses of the other negroes on the plantation, but always chatting pleasantly with all who came to see him.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	widower	widower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	without	without	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	retired	retired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
18	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	visiting	visit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	negroes	negro	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	plantation	plantation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	33	advmod	_	_
33	chatting	chat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
34	pleasantly	pleasantly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	obl	_	_
37	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
38	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lead** | past | a widower and children |  |  |  |  | DADDY *nsubj* | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition |
| 2 | **visit** | gerund | a widower and children *not said here* |  |  | the houses of the other negroes on the plantation |  | seldom *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **chat** *speech: other* | gerund | a widower and children *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with all; always, pleasantly *property* | vn chit\_chat-37.6 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with all=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | DADDY |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

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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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