--- title: And again: “The bones left by a single person in the course of his p… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: And again: “The bones left by a single person in the course of his past lives would form a pile so huge that were all the mountains to be gathered up and piled in a heap, that heap of mountains would appear as nothing beside it.” Who acts: bones, heap. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/206/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/) / 206 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 1, sentence 206 And again: “The bones left by a single person in the course of his past lives would form a pile so huge that were all the mountains to be gathered up and piled in a heap, that heap of mountains would appear as nothing beside it.” **Who acts:** bones, heap · **What happens:** leave, form, gather up, pile, appear · **To what, where:** bones, pile, mountains, heap This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bones, heap), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:1:221 # text = And again: “The bones left by a single person in the course of his past lives would form a pile so huge that were all the mountains to be gathered up and piled in a heap, that heap of mountains would appear as nothing beside it.” 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 2 again again ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 3 : : PUNCT : _ 20 punct _ _ 4 “ " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 bones bone NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nsubj _ _ 7 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 acl _ _ 8 by by ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 single single ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 person person NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 16 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 17 past past ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 18 lives life NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ _ 19 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 20 form form VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 pile pile NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 23 so so ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 huge huge ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 advcl _ _ 25 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 26 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 27 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 29 det:predet _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 mountains mountain NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nsubj:pass _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 31 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 32 aux:pass _ _ 32 gathered gather VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 advcl _ _ 33 up up ADP RP _ 32 compound:prt _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 piled pile VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 conj _ _ 36 in in ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 heap heap NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 41 det _ _ 41 heap heap NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 mountains mountain NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 nmod _ _ 44 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 appear appear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 parataxis _ _ 46 as as ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 45 obl _ _ 48 beside beside ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 51 ” " PUNCT '' _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **leave** *in a quote* | participle | | the bones *not said here* | | | | by a single person in the course of water's past lives | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by person=Location | | 2 | **form** *in a quote* | would | the bones | a pile | | | again | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location pile=Theme | | 3 | **gather up** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · passive | | all mountains | | | | | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 4 | **pile** *in a quote* | participle | | | | a heap | | | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme in heap=Destination | | 5 | **appear** *in a quote* | would | that heap of mountains | | | | | as nothing beside life | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. - ← previous: [sentence 205](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/205/) - next →: [sentence 207](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/207/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/)