---
title: The story goes that while he was splitting wood at the door of the r… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The story goes that while he was splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks took hot baths, a snake came out of a hole in a rotten log and bit him on the big toe. Who acts: story, monks, snake. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 12, with its 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 12, sentence 16

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The story goes that while he was splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks took hot baths, a snake came out of a hole in a rotten log and bit him on the big toe.

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**Who acts:** story, monks, snake · **What happens:** go, split, take, come out, bite · **To what, where:** wood, door, hot baths, hole, monk, big toe

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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 (story, monks, snake), 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:pg74064:12:17
# text = The story goes that while he was splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks took hot baths, a snake came out of a hole in a rotten log and bit him on the big toe.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	splitting	split	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	baths	bath	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	rotten	rotten	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	log	log	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	bit	bite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	on	on	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	toe	toe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | the story |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **split** | past · progressive | story | wood |  | the door of the room |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Patient |
| 3 | **take** | past | the monks | hot baths |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bath=Theme |
| 4 | **come out** | past | a snake | a hole in a rotten log |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient hole=Result |
| 5 | **bite** | past | a snake *not said here* | monk |  | the big toe |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Patient on toe=Location |

<!-- .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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