---
title: Unable to distinguish the directions, he lost his way, and terrified… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Unable to distinguish the directions, he lost his way, and terrified with the fear of death, went about with outstretched arms lamenting. Who acts: Buddha. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 111

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Unable to distinguish the directions, he lost his way, and terrified with the fear of death, went about with outstretched arms lamenting.

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**Who acts:** Buddha · **What happens:** distinguish, lose, go about, lament, fear · **To what, where:** directions, way, death

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Buddha), 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:pg74064:4:117
# text = Unable to distinguish the directions, he lost his way, and terrified with the fear of death, went about with outstretched arms lamenting.
1	Unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	directions	direction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	terrified	terrified	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
21	about	about	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	outstretched	outstretched	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
25	lamenting	lament	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **distinguish** | to-infinitive |  | the directions |  |  |  |  | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Attribute direction=Theme |
| 2 | **lose** | past | Buddha | Buddha's way |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go about** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with outstretched arms; about *property* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with arm=Instrument |
| 4 | **lament** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **fear** |  |  | death |  |  |  |  | nom fear «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

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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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