---
title: The moment the second thief took that porridge out and set it down,… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The moment the second thief took that porridge out and set it down, the first thief cleft him in twain with his sword and flung his remains away in a secluded spot. Who acts: moment. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 8, sentence 137

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The moment the second thief took that porridge out and set it down, the first thief cleft him in twain with his sword and flung his remains away in a secluded spot.

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**Who acts:** moment · **What happens:** take out, set down, fling away · **To what, where:** porridge, remains, secluded spot

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (moment), 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:pg74064:8:139
# text = The moment the second thief took that porridge out and set it down, the first thief cleft him in twain with his sword and flung his remains away in a secluded spot.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	amod	_	_
5	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	porridge	porridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	down	down	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	amod	_	_
17	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	cleft	cleft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	twain	twain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	remains	remains	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	26	obj	_	_
29	away	away	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	secluded	secluded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take out** | past | the moment | that porridge |  |  |  | with fellow's sword; the second thief *nsubj*; the first thief cleft  fellow in twain *parataxis* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent porridge=Theme |
| 2 | **set down** | infinitive | the moment *not said here* | porridge |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient it=Result |
| 3 | **fling away** | past | the moment *not said here* | fellow's remains |  | a secluded spot |  | away *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent remains=Theme in spot=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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