---
title: At midnight the ogres approached from the city of ogres, slew both o… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: At midnight the ogres approached from the city of ogres, slew both oxen and men, every one, devoured their flesh, leaving only the bare bones, and having so done, departed. Who acts: ogres. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 15, sentence 68

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At midnight the ogres approached from the city of ogres, slew both oxen and men, every one, devoured their flesh, leaving only the bare bones, and having so done, departed.

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**Who acts:** ogres · **What happens:** approach, slay, devour, leave, have, depart · **To what, where:** city, oxen, flesh, bare bones

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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 (ogres), 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:pg74064:15:68
# text = At midnight the ogres approached from the city of ogres, slew both oxen and men, every one, devoured their flesh, leaving only the bare bones, and having so done, departed.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ogres	ogre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	ogres	ogre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	oxen	ox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
19	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	devoured	devour	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	done	done	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	departed	depart	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | the ogres |  |  | the city of ogres | midnight |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from city=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **slay** | past | the ogres *not said here* | both oxen and men and every one |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ox=Patient |
| 3 | **devour** | past | the ogres *not said here* | men's flesh |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flesh=Patient |
| 4 | **leave** | gerund | the ogres *not said here* | the bare bones |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | gerund | the ogres *not said here* |  |  |  |  | done *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **depart** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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