---
title: When the eggs were hatched, the fledglings broke the shells and came… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When the eggs were hatched, the fledglings broke the shells and came out. Who acts: fledglings. 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 36

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When the eggs were hatched, the fledglings broke the shells and came out.

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**Who acts:** fledglings · **What happens:** hatch, break, come out · **To what, where:** eggs, shells

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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 (fledglings), 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:pg74064:5:38
# text = When the eggs were hatched, the fledglings broke the shells and came out.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	hatched	hatch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fledglings	fledgling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	shells	shell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
14	out	out	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hatch** | past · passive |  | the eggs |  |  |  |  | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP V NP.product PP.patient»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **break** | past | the fledglings | the shells |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shell=Patient |
| 3 | **come out** | past | the fledglings *not said here* |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |

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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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