--- title: And again: “The head of every person has been cut off so many times… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: And again: “The head of every person has been cut off so many times in the course of his past lives, either as a human being or as an animal, as to cause him to shed blood more abundant than all the water contained in the four great oceans.” Who acts: water. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/207/) [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/) / 207 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 1, sentence 207 And again: “The head of every person has been cut off so many times in the course of his past lives, either as a human being or as an animal, as to cause him to shed blood more abundant than all the water contained in the four great oceans.” **Who acts:** water · **What happens:** cut off, be, cause, shed, contain · **To what, where:** head, course, water, blood, four great oceans 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 (water), 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:pg74064:1:222 # text = And again: “The head of every person has been cut off so many times in the course of his past lives, either as a human being or as an animal, as to cause him to shed blood more abundant than all the water contained in the four great oceans.” 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 2 cc _ _ 2 again again ADV RB _ 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 3 : : PUNCT : _ 12 punct _ _ 4 “ " PUNCT `` _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj:pass _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 9 det _ _ 9 person person NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ 10 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 cut cut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 advcl _ _ 13 off off ADP RP _ 12 compound:prt _ _ 14 so so ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl:unmarked _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 22 past past ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 lives life NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 25 either either CCONJ CC _ 33 cc:preconj _ _ 26 as as SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 28 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 29 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 33 cop _ _ 30 or or CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 31 as as ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 animal animal NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 as as SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 cause cause VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 conj _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 shed shed VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ _ 41 blood blood NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 42 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 43 advmod _ _ 43 abundant abundant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 xcomp _ _ 44 than than ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 45 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 47 det:predet _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ _ 48 contained contain VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 47 acl _ _ 49 in in ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 51 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 53 nummod _ _ 52 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 oceans ocean NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 55 ” " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **cut off** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive | | the head of every person | | the course of water's past lives | time | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality | | 2 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | as a human animal | tree rules | | 3 | **cause** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | water | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **shed** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | water *not said here* | blood | | | | abundant *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location blood=Source | | 5 | **contain** *in a quote* | participle | | all water *not said here* | | the four great oceans | | | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in ocean=Location | 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 206](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/206/) - next →: [sentence 208](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/208/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/1/)