--- title: As a matter of fact, in the darkness caused by the cloud, while the… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: As a matter of fact, in the darkness caused by the cloud, while the god was raining, the prince, swept along by the river, seeing a certain tree-trunk, clambered on it, and sitting astride of it, traveled along, terrified with the fear of death, lamenting. Who acts: god, fact. A sentence of «The gra --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/134/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/) / 134 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 134 As a matter of fact, in the darkness caused by the cloud, while the god was raining, the prince, swept along by the river, seeing a certain tree-trunk, clambered on it, and sitting astride of it, traveled along, terrified with the fear of death, lamenting. **Who acts:** god, fact · **What happens:** cause, rain, sweep along, see, clamber, sit · **To what, where:** darkness, prince, certain tree trunk, trunk, death This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (god, 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:pg74064:3:139 # text = As a matter of fact, in the darkness caused by the cloud, while the god was raining, the prince, swept along by the river, seeing a certain tree-trunk, clambered on it, and sitting astride of it, traveled along, terrified with the fear of death, lamenting. 1 As as ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 fact fact NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 darkness darkness NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ _ 10 caused cause VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 9 acl _ _ 11 by by ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 cloud cloud NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 while while SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 god god NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 19 raining rain VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 swept sweep VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 acl _ _ 25 along along ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 26 by by ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 seeing see VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 31 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 32 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 33 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 34 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 trunk trunk NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 clambered clamber VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 35 acl _ _ 38 on on ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 sitting sit VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 43 astride astride ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 47 traveled travel VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 42 parataxis _ _ 48 along along ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 50 terrified terrified ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 conj _ _ 51 with with ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 fear fear NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ _ 54 of of ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 55 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 57 lamenting lament VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **cause** | participle | | the darkness *not said here* | | | | by the cloud | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition | | 2 | **rain** | past · progressive | the god | | | | | the prince *parataxis* | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme» | | 3 | **sweep along** | participle | | the prince *not said here* | | | | by the river; along *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by river=Trajectory | | 4 | **see** | gerund | the god *not said here* | a certain tree trunk | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer trunk=Stimulus | | 5 | **clamber** | participle | | a certain tree trunk *not said here* | | trunk | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on it=Trajectory | | 6 | **sit** | gerund | the god *not said here* | | | trunk | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent astride it=Location | | 7 | **travel** | participle | | | | | | along *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **lament** | gerund | the god *not said here* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 10 | **matter** | | fact | | | | | | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=agent | | 11 | **fear** | | | death | | | | | nom fear «feeling transitive»: of=patient | 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 133](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/133/) - next →: [sentence 135](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/135/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/)