---
title: As the hawk was carrying off the quail, the quail thus lamented: “I… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: As the hawk was carrying off the quail, the quail thus lamented: “I am indeed mighty unfortunate, I possess very little merit,--I who walked in forbidden ground, in a foreign region. Who acts: hawk, quail, Brahmadatta. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 14

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As the hawk was carrying off the quail, the quail thus lamented: “I am indeed mighty unfortunate, I possess very little merit,--I who walked in forbidden ground, in a foreign region.

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**Who acts:** hawk, quail, Brahmadatta · **What happens:** carry off, lament, be, possess, walk in, forbid · **To what, where:** quail, little merit, forbidden ground, foreign region · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (hawk, quail, Brahmadatta), 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:pg74064:13:15
# text = As the hawk was carrying off the quail, the quail thus lamented: “I am indeed mighty unfortunate, I possess very little merit,--I who walked in forbidden ground, in a foreign region.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	hawk	hawk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	lamented	lament	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	unfortunate	unfortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
24	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	merit	merit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
31	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
32	in	in	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	amod	_	_
34	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	region	region	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry off** | past · progressive | the hawk | the quail |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quail=Theme |
| 2 | **lament** | past | the quail |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Brahmadatta |  |  |  |  | indeed, unfortunate *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **possess** *in a quote* | present | Brahmadatta | little merit |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot merit=Theme |
| 5 | **walk in** *in a quote* | past | Brahmadatta | forbidden ground |  | a foreign region |  | who *nsubj* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in region=Trajectory |
| 6 | **forbid** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer |

<!-- .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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