---
title: Without so much as giving that false ascetic, that bird of evil omen… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Without so much as giving that false ascetic, that bird of evil omen, a chance to look at me, take that fellow, bind his arms behind his back, conduct him out of the city, beating him at every cross-roads, cut off his head in the place of execution, and impale his body on a stake!” Who acts: cross-r
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 56

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Without so much as giving that false ascetic, that bird of evil omen, a chance to look at me, take that fellow, bind his arms behind his back, conduct him out of the city, beating him at every cross-roads, cut off his head in the place of execution, and impale his body on a stake!”

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**Who acts:** cross-roads · **What happens:** give, look, take, bind, conduct, beat · **To what, where:** false ascetic, fellow, arms, back, ascetic, city

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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 (cross-roads), 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:pg74064:4:60
# text = Without so much as giving that false ascetic, that bird of evil omen, a chance to look at me, take that fellow, bind his arms behind his back, conduct him out of the city, beating him at every cross-roads, cut off his head in the place of execution, and impale his body on a stake!”
1	Without	without	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	false	false	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ascetic	ascetic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	omen	omen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
24	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	det	_	_
25	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	bind	bind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
30	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	conduct	conduct	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	out	out	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	at	at	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	45	det	_	_
45	cross-roads	cross-road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	acl	_	_
48	off	off	ADP	RP	_	47	compound:prt	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	execution	execution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	impale	impale	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
59	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	_
61	on	on	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	stake	stake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | gerund |  | false ascetic |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ascetic=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | at me | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at i=Theme |
| 3 | **take** | infinitive |  |  | that fellow |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument fellow=Destination |
| 4 | **bind** | infinitive |  | ascetic's arms |  | ascetic's back |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient |
| 5 | **conduct** | infinitive |  | ascetic |  | the city |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme out city=Destination |
| 6 | **beat** | gerund |  | ascetic |  | every cross-roads |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **cut off** | participle | every cross-roads *not said here* | ascetic's head |  | the place of execution |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 8 | **impale** | infinitive |  | ascetic's body |  | a stake |  |  | vn poke-19 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Patient |

<!-- .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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