---
title: (But why were these thieves called _Despatcher-thieves_? — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: (But why were these thieves called _Despatcher-thieves_? A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 8, sentence 86

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(But why were these thieves called \_Despatcher-thieves\_?

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**What happens:** be, call · **To what, where:** thieves · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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: 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:pg74064:8:88
# text = (But why were these thieves called _Despatcher-thieves_?
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Despatcher	Despatcher	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | this thieves |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | participle · passive |  | this thieves |  |  |  | Despatcher thieves *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

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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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