---
title: Having thus pointed out to them the four royal families of serpents,… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Having thus pointed out to them the four royal families of serpents, he said: “In case you are successful in cultivating friendship for these, reptiles will not bite you or annoy you.” Who acts: friendship, four royal families, you, reptiles. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Bu
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 12, sentence 34

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Having thus pointed out to them the four royal families of serpents, he said: “In case you are successful in cultivating friendship for these, reptiles will not bite you or annoy you.”

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**Who acts:** friendship, four royal families, you, reptiles · **What happens:** have, point out, say, be, cultivate, not bite · **To what, where:** four royal families, snakes, friendship, you · **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 (friendship, four royal families, you, reptiles), 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:pg74064:12:35
# text = Having thus pointed out to them the four royal families of serpents, he said: “In case you are successful in cultivating friendship for these, reptiles will not bite you or annoy you.”
1	Having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
2	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	pointed	point	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	xcomp	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	serpents	serpent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	In	in	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	22	case	_	_
19	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	fixed	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	successful	successful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	ccomp	_	_
23	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	cultivating	cultivate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
25	friendship	friendship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	reptiles	reptile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
30	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	parataxis	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	annoy	annoy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	conj	_	_
36	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | friendship *not said here* | the four royal families of serpents | snakes *= snake* |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **point out** | participle | the four royal families of serpents *not said here* |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | friendship |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | successful *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **cultivate** *in a quote* | gerund | you *not said here* | friendship |  |  |  | for these | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent friendship=Product for this=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **not** **bite** *in a quote* | future | reptiles | you |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Patient |
| 7 | **annoy** *in a quote* | infinitive | reptiles *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus you=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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