---
title: But they pierced and hit one another and came to grief, and on their… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: But they pierced and hit one another and came to grief, and on their return, lay down within the boundaries of the village, in the village-square, and at the village-gate. Who acts: fools. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 49

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But they pierced and hit one another and came to grief, and on their return, lay down within the boundaries of the village, in the village-square, and at the village-gate.

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**Who acts:** fools · **What happens:** pierce, hit, come, lay down, return · **To what, where:** village gate, one, grief, return

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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 (fools), 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:pg74064:13:53
# text = But they pierced and hit one another and came to grief, and on their return, lay down within the boundaries of the village, in the village-square, and at the village-gate.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pierced	pierce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	obj	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	fixed	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	grief	grief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
19	down	down	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	within	within	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	boundaries	boundary	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	square	square	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pierce** | past | fools *= fool* |  |  | the village gate |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hit** | past | fools *= fool* *not said here* | one |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme one=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past | fools *= fool* *not said here* |  |  | grief |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to grief=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **lay down** | infinitive | fools *= fool* *not said here* |  |  | fools's return |  | within the boundaries of the village; the village square *conj*; down *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on return=Destination |
| 5 | **return** |  | fools *= fool* |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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