The pretexts offered were laughable, and the <e1>response</e1> caused scarcely a <e2>ripple</e2> on the flood of commentary on Washington's noble "efforts to spread democracy".
The pretexts offered were
The pretexts offered were laughable, and the response caused scarcely a ripple on the flood of commentary on Washington's noble "efforts to spread democracy".
<triplet> response <subject> ripple <object> Cause-Effect(e1,e2)