---
title: When the little hare said this, the lion went to the foot of the Vil… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When the little hare said this, the lion went to the foot of the Vilva tree, looked at the spot beneath the cocoanut leaf where the little hare had lain, and observed that a Vilva fruit had fallen on top of the cocoanut leaf. Who acts: little hare, lion, Vilva fruit. A sentence of «The grateful elep
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 11, sentence 1

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When the little hare said this, the lion went to the foot of the Vilva tree, looked at the spot beneath the cocoanut leaf where the little hare had lain, and observed that a Vilva fruit had fallen on top of the cocoanut leaf.

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**Who acts:** little hare, lion, Vilva fruit · **What happens:** say, go, look, lie, observe, fall · **To what, where:** this, foot, little hare, top · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little hare, lion, Vilva fruit), 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:pg74064:11:1
# text = When the little hare said this, the lion went to the foot of the Vilva tree, looked at the spot beneath the cocoanut leaf where the little hare had lain, and observed that a Vilva fruit had fallen on top of the cocoanut leaf.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	Vilva	Vilva	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	cocoanut	cocoanut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
27	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	32	advmod	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	lain	lie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	Vilva	Vilva	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	ccomp	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	cocoanut	cocoanut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	_
47	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the little hare | this |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | past | the lion |  |  | the foot of the Vilva tree |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to foot=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **look** | past | the lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the spot beneath the cocoanut leaf | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at spot=Theme |
| 4 | **lie** | past · perfect · passive |  | the little hare |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **observe** | past | the lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **fall** | past · perfect | a Vilva fruit |  |  | top of the cocoanut leaf |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on top=Location |

<!-- .note -->
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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