---
title: They bound the Great Being, guiltless as he was, and started to cond… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: They bound the Great Being, guiltless as he was, and started to conduct him to the place of execution, beating him at every cross-roads. Who acts: bodies, man. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 58

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They bound the Great Being, guiltless as he was, and started to conduct him to the place of execution, beating him at every cross-roads.

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**Who acts:** bodies, man · **What happens:** bind, be, start, conduct, beat · **To what, where:** man, place, cross-roads

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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 (bodies, man), 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:pg74064:4:62
# text = They bound the Great Being, guiltless as he was, and started to conduct him to the place of execution, beating him at every cross-roads.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bound	bind	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	Great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
5	Being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	guiltless	guiltless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	conduct	conduct	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	execution	execution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	beating	beat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	cross-roads	cross-road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bind** | past | bodies *= body* |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | gerund | bodies *= body* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | guiltless *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **start** | past | bodies *= body* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **conduct** | to-infinitive | bodies *= body* *not said here* | man |  | the place of execution |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to place=Destination |
| 6 | **beat** | gerund | bodies *= body* *not said here* | man |  | every cross-roads |  |  | 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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