---
title: At any time, had he so desired, he might have uprooted craving for w… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: At any time, had he so desired, he might have uprooted craving for worldly pleasures and life and riches by meditation, and thus have escaped the sufferings of repeated states of existence. Who acts: time, Gotama, repeated states. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Op
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 1, sentence 239

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At any time, had he so desired, he might have uprooted craving for worldly pleasures and life and riches by meditation, and thus have escaped the sufferings of repeated states of existence.

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**Who acts:** time, Gotama, repeated states · **What happens:** have, desire, uproot, crave, escape, repeat · **To what, where:** sufferings

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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 (time, Gotama, repeated states), 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:pg74064:1:256
# text = At any time, had he so desired, he might have uprooted craving for worldly pleasures and life and riches by meditation, and thus have escaped the sufferings of repeated states of existence.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	uprooted	uproot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
14	craving	crave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	xcomp	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	worldly	worldly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	pleasures	pleasure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	riches	rich	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	meditation	meditation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	escaped	escape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	parataxis	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	sufferings	suffering	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	amod	_	_
33	states	state	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | any time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **desire** | past | Gotama |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **uproot** | might · perfect | Gotama |  |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **crave** | gerund | Gotama *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for worldly pleasures and life and riches; by meditation | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for pleasure=Theme |
| 5 | **escape** | present · perfect |  | the sufferings of repeated states of existence |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme suffering=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **repeat** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 7 | **suffer** |  | repeated states of existence |  |  |  |  |  | nom suffering «state intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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