---
title: “Monks,” said the Teacher, “if that monk had cultivated friendship f… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: “Monks,” said the Teacher, “if that monk had cultivated friendship for the four royal families of snakes, the snake would not have bitten him. Who acts: Monks. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 12, sentence 22

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“Monks,” said the Teacher, “if that monk had cultivated friendship for the four royal families of snakes, the snake would not have bitten him.

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**Who acts:** Monks · **What happens:** say, cultivate, not bite · **To what, where:** monk, snake · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Monks), 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:pg74064:12:23
# text = “Monks,” said the Teacher, “if that monk had cultivated friendship for the four royal families of snakes, the snake would not have bitten him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Teacher	Teacher	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	_
15	friendship	friendship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
19	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux	_	_
29	bitten	bite	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Monks |  |  |  |  | the Teacher *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **cultivate** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect · passive |  | that monk |  |  |  | for the four royal families of snakes; friendship *obj* | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary friendship=Product |
| 3 | **not** **bite** *in a quote* | would · perfect · passive |  | the snake |  |  |  | monk *obj* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient he=Result |

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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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