---
title: Others he let feel of the belly, others of the legs, others of the b… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Others he let feel of the belly, others of the legs, others of the back, others of the tail, saying to each and to all: “This, O blind men, is what an elephant is like.” Who acts: Elephant, Others. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9, with its dependenc
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 9, sentence 119

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Others he let feel of the belly, others of the legs, others of the back, others of the tail, saying to each and to all: “This, O blind men, is what an elephant is like.”

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**Who acts:** Elephant, Others · **What happens:** let, feel, say, be · **To what, where:** Others, each · **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, Others), 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:pg74064:9:126
# text = Others he let feel of the belly, others of the legs, others of the back, others of the tail, saying to each and to all: “This, O blind men, is what an elephant is like.”
1	Others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
4	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	belly	belly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
31	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
34	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	36	discourse	_	_
35	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
38	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	24	obl	_	_
40	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
42	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
43	like	like	INTJ	UH	_	39	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | past | Elephant | Others *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | infinitive | Others *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the belly | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Others |  | each |  |  | others of the legs and others of the back and others of the tail *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | a elephant |  |  |  |  | to all  This  blind men | 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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