---
title: When the little hares were asked, they pointed out that little hare… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When the little hares were asked, they pointed out that little hare and said: “He’s the one that told us.” Who acts: tiger, boar, one. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 10, sentence 150

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When the little hares were asked, they pointed out that little hare and said: “He’s the one that told us.”

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**Who acts:** tiger, boar, one · **What happens:** ask, point out, say, be, tell · **To what, where:** little hares, one, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tiger, boar, one), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74064:10:154
# text = When the little hares were asked, they pointed out that little hare and said: “He’s the one that told us.”
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	hares	hare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	pointed	point	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	advcl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	ccomp	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | the little hares |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **point out** | past | tiger |  |  |  |  | little hare *advcl* | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | tiger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | boar | the one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | the one |  | us |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |

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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.

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**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.

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