---
title: So tired was he that in the mere fraction of a moment he fell asleep. — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: So tired was he that in the mere fraction of a moment he fell asleep. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 6, sentence 80

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So tired was he that in the mere fraction of a moment he fell asleep.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** be, fall · **To what, where:** king, mere fraction

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg74064:6:80
# text = So tired was he that in the mere fraction of a moment he fell asleep.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	fraction	fraction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
15	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** | past | king |  |  | the mere fraction of a moment |  | asleep *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in fraction=Location |

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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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