---
title: In this spot he pulled up the young trees by the roots, and accordin… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: In this spot he pulled up the young trees by the roots, and according as the roots were large or small, watered them plentifully or sparingly. Who acts: boy, roots. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 120

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In this spot he pulled up the young trees by the roots, and according as the roots were large or small, watered them plentifully or sparingly.

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**Who acts:** boy, roots · **What happens:** pull up, accord, be, water · **To what, where:** young trees, spot, roots

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, roots), 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:pg74064:13:128
# text = In this spot he pulled up the young trees by the roots, and according as the roots were large or small, watered them plentifully or sparingly.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	pulled	pull	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
15	according	accord	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
24	watered	water	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	plentifully	plentifully	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	sparingly	sparingly	ADV	RB	_	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull up** | past | boy | the young trees |  | this spot |  | by the roots | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the roots |  |  |  |  | large *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | the roots *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **water** | past | boy *not said here* | roots *= root* |  |  |  | plentifully *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Destination |

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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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