--- title: There one day those utter fools of men assembled and took counsel to… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: There one day those utter fools of men assembled and took counsel together, saying: “Folks, when we enter the forest and do our work, the mosquitoes eat us up, and because of this our work is interrupted. Who acts: utter fools, we, mosquitoes, our. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Wat --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/46/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/) / 46 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 46 There one day those utter fools of men assembled and took counsel together, saying: “Folks, when we enter the forest and do our work, the mosquitoes eat us up, and because of this our work is interrupted. **Who acts:** utter fools, we, mosquitoes, our · **What happens:** assemble, take, say, enter, do, eat up · **To what, where:** counsel, Folks, forest, work, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (utter fools, we, mosquitoes, our), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:13:50 # text = There one day those utter fools of men assembled and took counsel together, saying: “Folks, when we enter the forest and do our work, the mosquitoes eat us up, and because of this our work is interrupted. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 9 expl _ _ 2 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 3 nummod _ _ 3 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl:unmarked _ _ 4 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 6 det _ _ 5 utter utter ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 fools fool NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _ 9 assembled assemble VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 12 counsel counsel NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 13 together together ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 15 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 11 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 : : PUNCT : _ 18 punct _ _ 17 “ " PUNCT `` _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 Folks folk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 21 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 enter enter VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 acl:relcl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 forest forest NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 do do VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 27 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 mosquitoes mosquito NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nsubj _ _ 32 eat eat VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 acl:relcl _ _ 33 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 up up ADP RP _ 32 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 37 because because SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 37 fixed _ _ 39 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 41 det _ _ 40 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj:pass _ _ 42 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux:pass _ _ 43 interrupted interrupt VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 9 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **assemble** | participle | that utter fools of men | | | there | day | | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **take** | past | that utter fools of men *not said here* | counsel | | | | together *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent counsel=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | that utter fools of men *not said here* | Folks | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent folk=Topic | | 4 | **enter** *in a quote* | present | we | the forest | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme forest=Destination | | 5 | **do** *in a quote* | present | we *not said here* | our work | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality | | 6 | **eat up** *in a quote* | present | the mosquitoes | us | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Patient | | 7 | **interrupt** *in a quote* | present · passive | | our work | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **work** *in a quote* | | our | | | | | | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent | | 9 | **work** *in a quote* | | our | | | | | | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/47/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/)