--- title: In the Hall of Truth the monks began to discuss the incident: “Breth… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: In the Hall of Truth the monks began to discuss the incident: “Brethren, such-and-such a monk, they say, while splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks take hot baths, was bitten by a snake and died on the spot.” Who acts: monks, snakes, snake. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/12/19/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/12/) / 19 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 12, sentence 19 In the Hall of Truth the monks began to discuss the incident: “Brethren, such-and-such a monk, they say, while splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks take hot baths, was bitten by a snake and died on the spot.” **Who acts:** monks, snakes, snake · **What happens:** begin, discuss, say, split, take, bite · **To what, where:** Brethren, Hall, incident, wood, door, hot baths · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (monks, snakes, snake), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:12:20 # text = In the Hall of Truth the monks began to discuss the incident: “Brethren, such-and-such a monk, they say, while splitting wood at the door of the room where the monks take hot baths, was bitten by a snake and died on the spot.” 1 In in ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Hall Hall PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 Truth Truth PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 monks monk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 8 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 discuss discuss VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 incident incident NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 : : PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 14 “ " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 Brethren Brethren PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 17 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 20 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 23 det:predet _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 monk monk NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 say say VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 while while SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 29 splitting split VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 26 ccomp _ _ 30 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 31 at at ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nmod _ _ 37 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 40 advmod _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 monks monk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 nsubj _ _ 40 take take VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 acl:relcl _ _ 41 hot hot ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 baths bath NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux:pass _ _ 45 bitten bite VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 8 parataxis _ _ 46 by by ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl:agent _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 50 died die VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 conj _ _ 51 on on ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 55 ” " PUNCT '' _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | past | the monks | Brethren | | the Hall of Truth | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **discuss** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the monks *not said here* | the incident | | | | | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent incident=Topic | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | snakes *= snake* | Brethren *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **split** *in a quote* | gerund | | wood | | the door of the room | | | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Patient | | 5 | **take** *in a quote* | present | the monks | hot baths | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bath=Theme | | 6 | **bite** *in a quote* | past · passive | a snake | | | | | | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **die** *in a quote* | past | a snake *not said here* | | | the spot | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/12/18/) - next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/12/20/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/12/)