---
title: Some of the blind men he let feel of the elephant’s head, saying: “T… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Some of the blind men he let feel of the elephant’s head, saying: “This, O blind men, is what an elephant is like.” Who acts: Elephant, blind men, Some. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 9, sentence 115

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Some of the blind men he let feel of the elephant’s head, saying: “This, O blind men, is what an elephant is like.”

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**Who acts:** Elephant, blind men, Some · **What happens:** let, feel, say, be · **To what, where:** blind men, This · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Elephant, blind men, Some), 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:pg74064:9:122
# text = Some of the blind men he let feel of the elephant’s head, saying: “This, O blind men, is what an elephant is like.”
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	22	discourse	_	_
21	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
29	like	like	INTJ	UH	_	28	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | past | Elephant | the blind men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | infinitive | the blind men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the elephant's head | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Some of the blind men | This |  |  |  | blind men *obl* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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