---
title: Then said one quail: “They say that in the very act of lifting the n… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said one quail: “They say that in the very act of lifting the net, you lost the down on your head. Who acts: Quail, act, you. 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 132

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Then said one quail: “They say that in the very act of lifting the net, you lost the down on your head.

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**Who acts:** Quail, act, you · **What happens:** say, lift, lose · **To what, where:** one quail, net, down, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Quail, act, you), 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:pg74064:5:136
# text = Then said one quail: “They say that in the very act of lifting the net, you lost the down on your head.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	act	act	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	_
14	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	lifting	lift	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	down	down	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | one quail |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | Quail |  |  |  |  | the act *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **lift** *in a quote* | gerund | the act *not said here* | the net |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent net=Theme |
| 4 | **lose** *in a quote* | past | you | the down |  | your head |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent down=Eventuality |

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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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