---
title: His example was imitated by his followers, and in the course of time… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: His example was imitated by his followers, and in the course of time hundreds and hundreds of stories were attributed to him on general principles. Who acts: followers, Gotama. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 1, sentence 248

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His example was imitated by his followers, and in the course of time hundreds and hundreds of stories were attributed to him on general principles.

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**Who acts:** followers, Gotama · **What happens:** imitate, attribute, exemplify · **To what, where:** example, Gotama, course

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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 (followers, 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:pg74064:1:266
# text = His example was imitated by his followers, and in the course of time hundreds and hundreds of stories were attributed to him on general principles.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	imitated	imitate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	followers	follower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	attributed	attribute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	principles	principle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **imitate** | past · passive | Gotama's followers | Gotama's example |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **attribute** | past · passive | Gotama's followers *not said here* |  | Gotama | the course of time hundreds and hundreds of stories |  | on general principles | tree rules |
| 3 | **exemplify** |  | Gotama |  |  |  |  |  | nom example «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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