---
title: A mighty river began to flow, and the multitude sank down in the cur… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: A mighty river began to flow, and the multitude sank down in the curds and were unable to extricate themselves. Who acts: mighty river, multitude. 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 46

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A mighty river began to flow, and the multitude sank down in the curds and were unable to extricate themselves.

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**Who acts:** mighty river, multitude · **What happens:** begin, flow, sink down, be, extricate · **To what, where:** curds

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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 (mighty river, multitude), 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:pg74064:10:47
# text = A mighty river began to flow, and the multitude sank down in the curds and were unable to extricate themselves.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	multitude	multitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	curds	curd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	extricate	extricate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | a mighty river |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **flow** | to-infinitive | a mighty river *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sink down** | past | the multitude |  |  | the curds |  | down *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | past | a mighty river *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **extricate** | to-infinitive | a mighty river *not said here* | curds *= curd* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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