---
title: At that moment the trees began to sway with the wind of the wings of… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: At that moment the trees began to sway with the wind of the wings of the griffin, and seemed to utter a cry of dissuasion. Who acts: trees, dissuasion. 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 6

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At that moment the trees began to sway with the wind of the wings of the griffin, and seemed to utter a cry of dissuasion.

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**Who acts:** trees, dissuasion · **What happens:** begin, sway, seem, utter, wind, cry · **To what, where:** cry, wings

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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 (trees, dissuasion), 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:pg74064:17:6
# text = At that moment the trees began to sway with the wind of the wings of the griffin, and seemed to utter a cry of dissuasion.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	sway	sway	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	utter	utter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	dissuasion	dissuasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the trees |  |  |  | moment |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sway** | to-infinitive | the trees *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the wind of the wings of the griffin | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **seem** | past | the trees *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **utter** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the trees *not said here* | a cry of dissuasion |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent cry=Topic |
| 5 | **wind** |  |  | the wings of the griffin |  |  |  |  | nom wind «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **cry** |  | dissuasion |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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