The grateful elephant, Opening, part 15, sentence 3
But the fact that in former times, in a wilderness haunted by demons, men who chose speculation were destroyed, while men who chose Absolute Truth were saved,--that fact is hidden from us and clear to you alone.
Who acts: men, fact · What happens: haunt, choose, destroy, save, hide, clear · To what, where: wilderness, speculation, former times, Absolute Truth, fact, you
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, fact), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 saved | cc |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 fact | det |
| 3 | fact | fact | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 saved | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 21 destroyed | mark |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 times | case |
| 6 | former | former | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 times | amod |
| 7 | times | time | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 destroyed | nsubj:pass |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 wilderness | punct |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 11 wilderness | case |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 wilderness | det |
| 11 | wilderness | wilderness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 times | nmod |
| 12 | haunted | haunt | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 wilderness | acl |
| 13 | by | by | ADP | _ | 14 demons | case |
| 14 | demons | demon | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 haunted | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 men | punct |
| 16 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 demons | conj |
| 17 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 18 chose | nsubj |
| 18 | chose | choose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 men | acl:relcl |
| 19 | speculation | speculation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 chose | obj |
| 20 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 destroyed | aux:pass |
| 21 | destroyed | destroy | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 fact | acl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 men | punct |
| 23 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 24 men | case |
| 24 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 destroyed | obj |
| 25 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 26 chose | nsubj |
| 26 | chose | choose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 men | acl:relcl |
| 27 | Absolute | absolute | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 Truth | amod |
| 28 | Truth | Truth | PROPN | Number=Sing | 26 chose | obj |
| 29 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 saved | aux:pass |
| 30 | saved | save | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 hidden | punct |
| 32 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 36 hidden | punct |
| 33 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 34 fact | det |
| 34 | fact | fact | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 hidden | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 hidden | aux:pass |
| 36 | hidden | hide | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 saved | conj |
| 37 | from | from | ADP | _ | 38 us | case |
| 38 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 36 hidden | obl |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 clear | cc |
| 40 | clear | clear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 hidden | conj |
| 41 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 you | case |
| 42 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 40 clear | obl |
| 43 | alone | alone | ADV | _ | 40 clear | advmod |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 30 saved | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | haunt | participle | a wilderness not said here | by demons and men | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | choose | past | men | speculation | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speculation=Theme | ||||
| 3 | destroy | past · passive | the fact not said here | former times in a wilderness | men obj | tree rules | |||
| 4 | choose | past | men | Absolute Truth | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truth=Theme | ||||
| 5 | save | past · passive | the fact | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 6 | hide | present · passive | that fact | from us | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient from we=Beneficiary | ||||
| 7 | clear | infinitive | you | alone property | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source |
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/pg74064/15/3/