---
title: And knowing for a fact that the earth had not collapsed, he took the… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: And knowing for a fact that the earth had not collapsed, he took the little hare on his back, went quickly, with the speed of a lion, to the assemblage of animals, informed them of all the facts, reassured the throng of animals by saying, “Fear not,” and released the little hare. Who acts: hare, fac
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 11, sentence 2

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And knowing for a fact that the earth had not collapsed, he took the little hare on his back, went quickly, with the speed of a lion, to the assemblage of animals, informed them of all the facts, reassured the throng of animals by saying, “Fear not,” and released the little hare.

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**Who acts:** hare, fact · **What happens:** know, not collapse, take, go, inform, reassure · **To what, where:** earth, little hare, back, assemblage, animals, throng · **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 (hare, fact), 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:pg74064:11:2
# text = And knowing for a fact that the earth had not collapsed, he took the little hare on his back, went quickly, with the speed of a lion, to the assemblage of animals, informed them of all the facts, reassured the throng of animals by saying, “Fear not,” and released the little hare.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	collapsed	collapse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
23	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	assemblage	assemblage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	informed	inform	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	iobj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	43	det:predet	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	facts	fact	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	reassured	reassure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	throng	throng	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
50	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
53	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	Fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
55	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	54	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	54	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	released	release	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	conj	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
61	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | gerund | hare *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a fact | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **collapse** | past · perfect · passive | a fact *not said here* | the earth |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **take** | past | hare | the little hare |  | hare's back |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hare=Theme on back=Destination |
| 4 | **go** | past | hare *not said here* |  |  | the assemblage of animals |  | with the speed of a lion; quickly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to assemblage=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **inform** *speech: other* | past | hare *not said here* |  | animals *= animal* |  |  | of all facts | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent they=Recipient of fact=Topic |
| 6 | **reassure** | past | hare *not said here* | the throng of animals |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus throng=Experiencer |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | hare *not said here* | Fear |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent fear=Topic |
| 8 | **release** | past | hare *not said here* | the little hare |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer hare=Source |

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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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