---
title: Then, monks, the hawk, exerting his strength, asserting his strength… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then, monks, the hawk, exerting his strength, asserting his strength, flapped both his wings and attacked the quail with violence. Who acts: hawk, monks. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 12, sentence 155

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Then, monks, the hawk, exerting his strength, asserting his strength, flapped both his wings and attacked the quail with violence.

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**Who acts:** hawk, monks · **What happens:** exert, assert, flap, attack · **To what, where:** strength, wings, quail

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hawk, monks), 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:pg74064:12:163
# text = Then, monks, the hawk, exerting his strength, asserting his strength, flapped both his wings and attacked the quail with violence.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	exerting	exert	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	asserting	assert	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	conj	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
16	flapped	flap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	both	both	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	attacked	attack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	violence	violence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **exert** | gerund | the hawk *not said here* | Hawk's strength |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Theme |
| 2 | **assert** | gerund | the hawk *not said here* | Hawk's strength |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Theme |
| 3 | **flap** | past | monks and the hawk | Hawk's wings |  |  | then |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient |
| 4 | **attack** | past | monks and the hawk *not said here* | the quail |  |  |  | with violence | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quail=Patient |

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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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