---
title: Ministers reported this fact to the queen, saying: “We fear that if… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Ministers reported this fact to the queen, saying: “We fear that if the force continues thus to give way, we shall lose the battle. Who acts: Ministers, We, force. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 81

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Ministers reported this fact to the queen, saying: “We fear that if the force continues thus to give way, we shall lose the battle.

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**Who acts:** Ministers, We, force · **What happens:** report, say, fear, continue, give, lose · **To what, where:** fact, queen, way, battle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Ministers, We, 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:pg74064:3:83
# text = Ministers reported this fact to the queen, saying: “We fear that if the force continues thus to give way, we shall lose the battle.
1	Ministers	minister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	reported	report	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	fear	fear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	continues	continue	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
19	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
22	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **report** | past | Ministers | this fact | the queen |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent fact=Topic to queen=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Ministers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fear** *in a quote* | present | We |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **continue** *in a quote* | present | the force |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **give** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the force *not said here* | way |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 6 | **lose** *in a quote* | shall | we | the battle |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent battle=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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