---
title: From that time on he helped the carpenters remove trees, rolled them… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: From that time on he helped the carpenters remove trees, rolled them over and held them for the carpenters while they were fashioning them, brought them their tools, and held the measuring-cord, taking it by the end and wrapping his trunk about it. Who acts: Elephant, carpenters. A sentence of «The 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 36

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From that time on he helped the carpenters remove trees, rolled them over and held them for the carpenters while they were fashioning them, brought them their tools, and held the measuring-cord, taking it by the end and wrapping his trunk about it.

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**Who acts:** Elephant, carpenters · **What happens:** help, remove, roll over, hold, fashion, bring · **To what, where:** carpenters, trees, remedies, measuring cord, cord, trunk

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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 (Elephant, carpenters), 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:pg74064:3:38
# text = From that time on he helped the carpenters remove trees, rolled them over and held them for the carpenters while they were fashioning them, brought them their tools, and held the measuring-cord, taking it by the end and wrapping his trunk about it.
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	carpenters	carpenter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	remove	remove	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	over	over	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	carpenters	carpenter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
21	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	fashioning	fashion	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	tools	tool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
35	measuring	measuring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	by	by	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	wrapping	wrap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	conj	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
48	about	about	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **help** | past | Elephant | the carpenters |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent carpenter=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **remove** | present |  | trees |  |  | time |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 3 | **roll over** | past |  | carpenters *= carpenter* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Agent |
| 4 | **hold** | past |  | carpenters *= carpenter* |  |  |  | for the carpenters | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 5 | **fashion** | past · progressive | carpenters *= carpenter* | remedies *= remedy* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Product |
| 6 | **bring** | past |  | carpenters *= carpenter* |  |  |  | carpenters's tools *obj* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent they=Destination tool=Theme |
| 7 | **hold** | past |  | the measuring cord |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Theme |
| 8 | **take** | gerund |  | cord |  |  | by the end |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 9 | **wrap** | gerund |  | Elephant's trunk |  |  |  | about cord | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent trunk=Theme about it=Destination |

<!-- .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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