---
title: Said the tiny quail: “When this crow has put out the eyes of the sol… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Said the tiny quail: “When this crow has put out the eyes of the solitary elephant, I wish you would drop a nit on them.” Who acts: tiny quail, 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 72

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Said the tiny quail: “When this crow has put out the eyes of the solitary elephant, I wish you would drop a nit on them.”

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**Who acts:** tiny quail, you · **What happens:** say, put out, wish, drop · **To what, where:** crow, nit · **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 (tiny quail, 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:pg74064:5:74
# text = Said the tiny quail: “When this crow has put out the eyes of the solitary elephant, I wish you would drop a nit on them.”
1	Said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	quail	quail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	solitary	solitary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	drop	drop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	nit	nit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	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 | the tiny quail |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **put out** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | this crow |  |  |  | the eyes of the solitary elephant *obj* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Asset eye=Goal |
| 3 | **wish** *in a quote* | present | the tiny quail *= quail* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **drop** *in a quote* | would | you | a nit |  |  |  | on Quail | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent nit=Theme on they=Destination |

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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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