---
title: In former times even animals, because they left their own ancestral… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: In former times even animals, because they left their own ancestral region and walked in forbidden ground, fell into the hands of their enemies, but through their own intelligence and resourcefulness escaped from the hands of their enemies.” Who acts: animals. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» b
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 8

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In former times even animals, because they left their own ancestral region and walked in forbidden ground, fell into the hands of their enemies, but through their own intelligence and resourcefulness escaped from the hands of their enemies.”

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**Who acts:** animals · **What happens:** leave, walk, fall, escape · **To what, where:** own ancestral region, forbidden ground, hands, own intelligence

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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 (animals), 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:pg74064:13:9
# text = In former times even animals, because they left their own ancestral region and walked in forbidden ground, fell into the hands of their enemies, but through their own intelligence and resourcefulness escaped from the hands of their enemies.”
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
11	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	ancestral	ancestral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	region	region	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	forbidden	forbidden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
29	through	through	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	intelligence	intelligence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	resourcefulness	resourcefulness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	_
35	escaped	escape	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | past | animals *= animal* | animals's own ancestral region |  |  | time |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent region=Theme |
| 2 | **walk** | past | animals *= animal* *not said here* |  |  | forbidden ground |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in ground=Trajectory |
| 3 | **fall** | past | animals *= animal* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into the hands of animals's enemies *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into hand=Result |
| 4 | **escape** | past | animals *= animal* *not said here* |  |  | animals's own intelligence and resourcefulness |  | from the hands of animals's enemies | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme through intelligence=Initial\_Location from hand=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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