--- title: But the fact that in former times, in a wilderness haunted by demons… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: But the fact that in former times, in a wilderness haunted by demons, men who chose speculation were destroyed, while men who chose Absolute Truth were saved,--that fact is hidden from us and clear to you alone. Who acts: men, fact. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/15/3/) [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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/15/) / 3 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 15, sentence 3 But the fact that in former times, in a wilderness haunted by demons, men who chose speculation were destroyed, while men who chose Absolute Truth were saved,--that fact is hidden from us and clear to you alone. **Who acts:** men, fact · **What happens:** haunt, choose, destroy, save, hide, clear · **To what, where:** wilderness, speculation, former times, Absolute Truth, fact, you This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, fact), 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:pg74064:15:3 # text = But the fact that in former times, in a wilderness haunted by demons, men who chose speculation were destroyed, while men who chose Absolute Truth were saved,--that fact is hidden from us and clear to you alone. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 fact fact NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj:pass _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 5 in in ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 former former ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 9 in in ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 wilderness wilderness NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nmod _ _ 12 haunted haunt VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 acl _ _ 13 by by ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 demons demon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 16 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 conj _ _ 17 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 18 nsubj _ _ 18 chose choose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 acl:relcl _ _ 19 speculation speculation NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 20 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux:pass _ _ 21 destroyed destroy VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 23 while while SCONJ IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obj _ _ 25 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 26 nsubj _ _ 26 chose choose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 acl:relcl _ _ 27 Absolute absolute ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 Truth Truth PROPN NNP Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux:pass _ _ 30 saved save VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 -- -- PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 34 det _ _ 34 fact fact NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 hidden hide VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 conj _ _ 37 from from ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 obl _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 clear clear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 conj _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 40 obl _ _ 43 alone alone ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 30 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **haunt** | participle | | a wilderness *not said here* | | | | by demons and men | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **choose** | past | men | speculation | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speculation=Theme | | 3 | **destroy** | past · passive | the fact *not said here* | former times in a wilderness | | | | men *obj* | tree rules | | 4 | **choose** | past | men | Absolute Truth | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truth=Theme | | 5 | **save** | past · passive | | the fact | | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 6 | **hide** | present · passive | | that fact | | | | from us | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient from we=Beneficiary | | 7 | **clear** | infinitive | | | you | | | alone *property* | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source | 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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/15/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/15/4/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/15/)