---
title: Accordingly, monks, the partridge and the monkey asked the elephant:… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Accordingly, monks, the partridge and the monkey asked the elephant: “How far back, sir, can you remember?” Who acts: monks, elephant. 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 77

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Accordingly, monks, the partridge and the monkey asked the elephant: “How far back, sir, can you remember?”

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**Who acts:** monks, elephant · **What happens:** ask, remember · **To what, where:** elephant · **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, elephant), 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:pg74064:12:81
# text = Accordingly, monks, the partridge and the monkey asked the elephant: “How far back, sir, can you remember?”
1	Accordingly	accordingly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	partridge	partridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
16	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
17	back	back	ADV	RB	_	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	sir	sir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | monks and the partridge and the monkey |  | the elephant |  |  | accordingly *property* | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent elephant=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **remember** *in a quote* | can | the elephant *= elephant* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

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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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