---
title: So what must she do but seize the pin of the door-bolt and give you… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: So what must she do but seize the pin of the door-bolt and give you a blow on the head and break your head!” Who acts: lady. 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 81

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So what must she do but seize the pin of the door-bolt and give you a blow on the head and break your head!”

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**Who acts:** lady · **What happens:** do, seize, give, break · **To what, where:** pin, blow, you, head

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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 (lady), 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:pg74064:9:86
# text = So what must she do but seize the pin of the door-bolt and give you a blow on the head and break your head!”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	bolt	bolt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
25	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | must | lady |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **seize** | infinitive | lady *not said here* | the pin of the door bolt |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pin=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | infinitive | lady *not said here* | a blow | you | the head |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent you=Recipient blow=Theme on head=Asset |
| 4 | **break** | infinitive | lady *not said here* | your head |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Patient |

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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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