--- title: And they fought among themselves with their fists, saying: “This is… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: And they fought among themselves with their fists, saying: “This is what an elephant is like, that is not what an elephant is like;” “This is not what an elephant is like, that is what an elephant is like.” Who acts: Men, This, that. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/134/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/) / 134 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 9, sentence 134 And they fought among themselves with their fists, saying: “This is what an elephant is like, that is not what an elephant is like;” “This is not what an elephant is like, that is what an elephant is like.” **Who acts:** Men, This, that · **What happens:** fight, say, be, not be · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Men, This, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:9:141 # text = And they fought among themselves with their fists, saying: “This is what an elephant is like, that is not what an elephant is like;” “This is not what an elephant is like, that is what an elephant is like.” 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 fought fight VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 among among ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 3 obl _ _ 6 with with ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 fists fist NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 10 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 : : PUNCT : _ 3 punct _ _ 12 “ " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 15 nsubj _ _ 14 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 15 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 3 parataxis _ _ 16 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 18 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 cop _ _ 19 like like INTJ UH _ 15 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 24 nsubj _ _ 22 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 24 advmod _ _ 24 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 3 parataxis _ _ 25 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 27 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 28 cop _ _ 28 like like ADP IN _ 24 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ; ; PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 31 “ " PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 35 nsubj _ _ 33 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 34 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 35 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 3 parataxis _ _ 36 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 38 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 39 like like INTJ UH _ 37 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 43 nsubj _ _ 42 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 43 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 3 parataxis _ _ 44 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj _ _ 46 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 47 like like INTJ UH _ 43 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fight** | past | Men *= man* | | | | | among Men *= man*; with Men's fists | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Men *= man* *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | | | | | a elephant *nsubj* | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | | | | | a elephant *nsubj* | tree rules | | 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | | | | | a elephant *nsubj* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 133](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/133/) - next →: [sentence 135](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/135/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/)