---
title: And straightway their enemy the griffin, relying on the boon which h… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: And straightway their enemy the griffin, relying on the boon which he had obtained from Vishnu, swooped down on them and began to devour them. Who acts: griffin, straightway enemy. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 79

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And straightway their enemy the griffin, relying on the boon which he had obtained from Vishnu, swooped down on them and began to devour them.

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**Who acts:** griffin, straightway enemy · **What happens:** enemy, rely, obtain, swoop down, begin, devour · **To what, where:** boon, Vishnu, snakes

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (griffin, straightway enemy), 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:pg74064:16:82
# text = And straightway their enemy the griffin, relying on the boon which he had obtained from Vishnu, swooped down on them and began to devour them.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	straightway	straightway	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	relying	rely	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	boon	boon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Vishnu	Vishnu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
19	swooped	swoop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	devour	devour	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enemy** |  | the griffin |  |  |  |  | snakes *= snake* *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 2 | **rely** | gerund | snakes's straightway enemy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on the boon | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent on boon=Theme |
| 3 | **obtain** | past · perfect · passive |  | the boon |  | Vishnu |  | Griffin *nsubj* | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: subject=Theme from vishnu=Source |
| 4 | **swoop down** | past | snakes's straightway enemy |  |  |  |  | on snakes *= snake* | tree rules |
| 5 | **begin** | past | snakes's straightway enemy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **devour** | to-infinitive | snakes's straightway enemy *not said here* | snakes *= snake* |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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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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