---
title: “But which one of us is the oldest?” they considered. — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: “But which one of us is the oldest?” they considered. Who acts: one, oldest. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 12, sentence 107

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“But which one of us is the oldest?” they considered.

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**Who acts:** one, oldest · **What happens:** be, consider

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, oldest), 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:pg74064:12:112
# text = “But which one of us is the oldest?” they considered.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
3	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	4	det	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	considered	consider	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | which one of us |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **consider** | past | the oldest |  |  |  |  | greetings *= greeting* *nsubj* | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=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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