---
title: Said the Future Buddha: “In the very act of rendering homage, medita… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Said the Future Buddha: “In the very act of rendering homage, meditate on the Seven Buddhas.” Who acts: Future Buddha, act. 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 60

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Said the Future Buddha: “In the very act of rendering homage, meditate on the Seven Buddhas.”

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**Who acts:** Future Buddha, act · **What happens:** say, render, meditate · **To what, where:** homage, act · **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 (Future Buddha, act), 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:pg74064:12:61
# text = Said the Future Buddha: “In the very act of rendering homage, meditate on the Seven Buddhas.”
1	Said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Future	future	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Buddha	buddha	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	In	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	act	act	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	rendering	render	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
13	homage	homage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
15	meditate	meditate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	Seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	Buddhas	Buddha	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	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 | the Future Buddha |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **render** *in a quote* | gerund | the act *not said here* | homage |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent homage=Theme |
| 3 | **meditate** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  | the act |  | on the Seven Buddhas | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent on buddha=Topic |

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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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