---
title: But because they had no man to lead them in battle, the force, large… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: But because they had no man to lead them in battle, the force, large as it was, gave way little by little in the conflict. Who acts: citizens, force. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 80

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But because they had no man to lead them in battle, the force, large as it was, gave way little by little in the conflict.

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**Who acts:** citizens, force · **What happens:** have, lead, be · **To what, where:** man, citizens, battle, conflict

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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 (citizens, force), 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:pg74064:3:82
# text = But because they had no man to lead them in battle, the force, large as it was, gave way little by little in the conflict.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	lead	lead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
22	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
23	little	little	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	obl	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	conflict	conflict	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | citizens *= citizen* | no man |  |  |  | large *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 2 | **lead** | to-infinitive | citizens *= citizen* *not said here* | citizens *= citizen* |  | battle |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in battle=Destination |
| 3 | **is** | past | force |  |  | the conflict |  | by little; way *obj*; give *property* | tree rules |

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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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