The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 70
So long as he was winning, he would not break the play-ring; but when he lost, he would put a die in his mouth, say, “A die is lost!” break the play-ring, and make off.
Who acts: Buddha · What happens: win, not break, lose, put, say, break · To what, where: play ring, die, mouth · 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 (Buddha), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 2 long | advmod |
| 2 | long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 11 break | advmod |
| 3 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 6 winning | mark |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 winning | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 winning | aux |
| 6 | winning | win | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 long | advcl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 long | punct |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 break | nsubj |
| 9 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 11 break | aux |
| 10 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 break | advmod |
| 11 | break | break | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 ring | det |
| 13 | play | play | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 ring | compound |
| 14 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 13 play | punct |
| 15 | ring | ring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 break | obj |
| 16 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 24 put | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 24 put | cc |
| 18 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 20 lost | mark |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 lost | nsubj |
| 20 | lost | lose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 put | advcl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 lost | punct |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 put | nsubj |
| 23 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 put | aux |
| 24 | put | put | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 break | conj |
| 25 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 26 die | det |
| 26 | die | die | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 put | obj |
| 27 | in | in | ADP | _ | 29 mouth | case |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 mouth | nmod:poss |
| 29 | mouth | mouth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 put | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 say | punct |
| 31 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 break | conj |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 lost | punct |
| 33 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 37 lost | punct |
| 34 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 die | det |
| 35 | die | die | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 lost | nsubj:pass |
| 36 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 lost | aux:pass |
| 37 | lost | lose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 31 say | ccomp |
| 38 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 37 lost | punct |
| 39 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 37 lost | punct |
| 40 | break | break | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 37 lost | xcomp |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 ring | det |
| 42 | play | play | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 ring | compound |
| 43 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 42 play | punct |
| 44 | ring | ring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 break | obj |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 make | punct |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 make | cc |
| 47 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 break | conj |
| 48 | off | off | ADP | _ | 47 make | compound:prt |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 11 break | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | win | past · progressive | Buddha | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | not break | would | Buddha | the play ring | long property | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ring=Patient | |||
| 3 | lose | past | Buddha | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | put | would | Buddha | a die | Buddha's mouth | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent die=Theme in mouth=Destination | |||
| 5 | say speech: express | infinitive | Buddha not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | lose in a quote | present · passive | a die | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | break | infinitive | the play ring | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ring=Patient | |||||
| 8 | make off | infinitive | Buddha not said here | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
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/pg74064/14/70/