---
title: The Buddhist Scriptures tell us that when Gotama was twenty-nine yea… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The Buddhist Scriptures tell us that when Gotama was twenty-nine years old, he saw for the first time an Old Man, a Sick Man, a Dead Man, and a Monk. Who acts: Buddhist Scriptures, Gotama. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 1, sentence 212

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The Buddhist Scriptures tell us that when Gotama was twenty-nine years old, he saw for the first time an Old Man, a Sick Man, a Dead Man, and a Monk.

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**Who acts:** Buddhist Scriptures, Gotama · **What happens:** tell, be, see · **To what, where:** us, Monk · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Buddhist Scriptures, Gotama), 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:pg74064:1:228
# text = The Buddhist Scriptures tell us that when Gotama was twenty-nine years old, he saw for the first time an Old Man, a Sick Man, a Dead Man, and a Monk.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	Buddhist	buddhist	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	Scriptures	Scripture	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	14	mark	_	_
8	Gotama	Gotama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
10	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	21	amod	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	Old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	Sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	Dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	Man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Monk	Monk	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the Buddhist Scriptures |  | us |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent we=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | Gotama |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | Gotama | a Monk |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .note -->
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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