---
title: Now after only a few days had passed, one quail, lighting on the fee… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now after only a few days had passed, one quail, lighting on the feeding-ground, accidentally trod on the head of another. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 5, sentence 120

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Now after only a few days had passed, one quail, lighting on the feeding-ground, accidentally trod on the head of another.

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**What happens:** pass, light, tread · **To what, where:** few days, feeding ground, head

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg74064:5:124
# text = Now after only a few days had passed, one quail, lighting on the feeding-ground, accidentally trod on the head of another.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	lighting	light	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	feeding	feeding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	accidentally	accidentally	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	trod	tread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past · perfect · passive |  | a few days |  |  |  | one quail *obl* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory |
| 2 | **light** | gerund |  |  |  | the feeding ground |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **tread** | past |  |  |  | the head of another |  | accidentally *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on head=Trajectory |

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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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