---
title: Now a mosquito settled on his head,--his head looked like the surfac… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now a mosquito settled on his head,--his head looked like the surface of a copper bowl!--and pierced his head with his stinger, just as though he were sticking him with a spear. Who acts: head, mosquito. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13, with its de
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now a mosquito settled on his head,--his head looked like the surface of a copper bowl!--and pierced his head with his stinger, just as though he were sticking him with a spear.

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**Who acts:** head, mosquito · **What happens:** settle, look, pierce, stick · **To what, where:** mosquito, head

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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 (head, mosquito), 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:pg74064:13:65
# text = Now a mosquito settled on his head,--his head looked like the surface of a copper bowl!--and pierced his head with his stinger, just as though he were sticking him with a spear.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	mosquito	mosquito	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
4	settled	settle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	like	like	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	copper	copper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	pierced	pierce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	stinger	stinger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	just	just	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	as	as	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
32	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	sticking	stick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **settle** | participle |  | a mosquito *not said here* |  |  |  | on mosquito's head | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent on head=Topic |
| 2 | **look** | past | mosquito's head |  |  |  | now | like the surface of a copper bowl | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **pierce** | past | mosquito's head *not said here* | mosquito's head |  |  |  | with mosquito's stinger | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent head=Patient with stinger=Instrument |
| 4 | **stick** | past · progressive | mosquito |  | head |  |  | with a spear | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Destination with spear=Theme |

<!-- .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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