The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 115
Now that caravan-leader told his drivers what that man had said, and gave orders as follows: “Throw away the old grass, sticks, and water; with lightly burdened carts start the caravan forward.”
Who acts: caravan leader, man, burdened carts · What happens: tell, say, give, follow, throw away, burden · To what, where: drivers, orders, old grass, caravan · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, 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 (caravan leader, man, burdened carts), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 6 told | advmod |
| 2 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 5 leader | det |
| 3 | caravan | caravan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 leader | compound |
| 4 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 3 caravan | punct |
| 5 | leader | leader | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 told | nsubj |
| 6 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 drivers | nmod:poss |
| 8 | drivers | driver | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 told | iobj |
| 9 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 told | obj |
| 10 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 11 man | det |
| 11 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 said | nsubj |
| 12 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 said | aux |
| 13 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 9 what | acl:relcl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 gave | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 gave | cc |
| 16 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 told | conj |
| 17 | orders | order | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 gave | obj |
| 18 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 19 follows | mark |
| 19 | follows | follow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 gave | advcl |
| 20 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 22 Throw | punct |
| 21 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 22 Throw | punct |
| 22 | Throw | throw | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 follows | advcl |
| 23 | away | away | ADV | _ | 22 Throw | advmod |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 grass | det |
| 25 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 grass | amod |
| 26 | grass | grass | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 Throw | obj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 sticks | punct |
| 28 | sticks | stick | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 grass | conj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 water | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 water | cc |
| 31 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 Throw | obl |
| 32 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 37 start | punct |
| 33 | with | with | ADP | _ | 36 carts | case |
| 34 | lightly | lightly | ADV | _ | 35 burdened | advmod |
| 35 | burdened | burden | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 36 carts | amod |
| 36 | carts | cart | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 start | nsubj |
| 37 | start | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 told | parataxis |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 caravan | det |
| 39 | caravan | caravan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 start | obj |
| 40 | forward | forward | ADV | _ | 37 start | advmod |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 told | punct |
| 42 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | that caravan leader | leader's drivers | now | what obj | tree rules | ||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past · perfect | that man | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | give | past | that caravan leader not said here | orders | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent order=Theme | ||||
| 4 | follow | present | that caravan leader not said here | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | throw away in a quote | infinitive | that caravan leader not said here | the old grass and sticks | water obl; away property | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Theme | |||
| 6 | burden in a quote | participle | lightly property | vn equip-13.4.2-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | start in a quote | present | burdened carts | the caravan | forward property | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent caravan=Eventuality |
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.
Text: «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/14/115/