---
title: As for the fowler, he came back after a few days, imitated a quail’s… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: As for the fowler, he came back after a few days, imitated a quail’s whistle, and when the quails had assembled, threw the net over them. Who acts: Fowler, few days, quail. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 5, sentence 131

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As for the fowler, he came back after a few days, imitated a quail’s whistle, and when the quails had assembled, threw the net over them.

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**Who acts:** Fowler, few days, quail · **What happens:** come back, imitate, assemble, throw, whistle · **To what, where:** whistle, quails, net

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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: who acts (Fowler, few days, quail), 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:pg74064:5:135
# text = As for the fowler, he came back after a few days, imitated a quail’s whistle, and when the quails had assembled, threw the net over them.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	4	case	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fowler	fowler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	after	after	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	imitated	imitate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	25	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	quails	quail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	assembled	assemble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	over	over	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come back** | past | Fowler |  |  |  | day | as the fowler | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **imitate** | participle | a few days *not said here* | a quail's whistle |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whistle=Theme |
| 3 | **assemble** | past · perfect · passive |  | the quails |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **throw** | past | Fowler *not said here* | the net |  |  |  | over Quail | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent net=Theme over they=Destination |
| 5 | **whistle** |  | a quail |  |  |  |  |  | nom whistle «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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