---
title: By stepping outside of the circle, a dicer “broke” the play-ring and… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: By stepping outside of the circle, a dicer “broke” the play-ring and stopped the play. Who acts: dicer. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 17, sentence 110

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By stepping outside of the circle, a dicer “broke” the play-ring and stopped the play.

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**Who acts:** dicer · **What happens:** step, break, stop · **To what, where:** circle, play ring, play

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dicer), 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:pg74064:17:111
# text = By stepping outside of the circle, a dicer “broke” the play-ring and stopped the play.
1	By	by	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stepping	step	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
3	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dicer	dicer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **step** | gerund | a dicer *not said here* |  |  | the circle |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme outside circle=Trajectory |
| 2 | **break** *in a quote* | past | a dicer | the play ring |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ring=Patient |
| 3 | **stop** | past | a dicer *not said here* | the play |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality play=Eventuality |

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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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