---
title: On a certain occasion the Teacher, referring to the self-mortificati… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: On a certain occasion the Teacher, referring to the self-mortification of the Hindu ascetics, said to the monks: “Monks, there is no value, no merit, in their self-mortification. Who acts: certain occasion, Monks, value. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, par
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 10, sentence 103

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On a certain occasion the Teacher, referring to the self-mortification of the Hindu ascetics, said to the monks: “Monks, there is no value, no merit, in their self-mortification.

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**Who acts:** certain occasion, Monks, value · **What happens:** refer, say, be, mortify · **To what, where:** monks, certain occasion, Hindu ascetics · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (certain occasion, Monks, value), 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:pg74064:10:107
# text = On a certain occasion the Teacher, referring to the self-mortification of the Hindu ascetics, said to the monks: “Monks, there is no value, no merit, in their self-mortification.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	occasion	occasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Teacher	Teacher	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	referring	refer	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	self	self	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	mortification	mortification	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	Hindu	hindu	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	ascetics	ascetic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
19	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	Monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
28	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
30	value	value	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	33	det	_	_
33	merit	merit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
37	self	self	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	mortification	mortification	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refer** | gerund | a certain occasion *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the self mortification of the Hindu ascetics | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to mortification=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | the monks | a certain occasion |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to monk=Recipient |
| 3 | **does** *in a quote* | present | Monks |  |  | there |  | no value and no merit and value's self mortification *nsubj* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **mortify** |  |  | the Hindu ascetics |  |  |  |  | nom mortification «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **mortify** *in a quote* |  | value |  |  |  |  |  | nom mortification «feeling 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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