---
title: Seeing a certain bare spot, they asked the gardener: “Disciple, ever… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Seeing a certain bare spot, they asked the gardener: “Disciple, everywhere else this garden has dense shade, but in this spot there is not so much as a tree or a shrub. Who acts: monks, Disciple. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13, with its dependency
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 117

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Seeing a certain bare spot, they asked the gardener: “Disciple, everywhere else this garden has dense shade, but in this spot there is not so much as a tree or a shrub.

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**Who acts:** monks, Disciple · **What happens:** see, ask, have, not be · **To what, where:** certain bare spot, gardener, dense shade · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (monks, Disciple), 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:pg74064:13:125
# text = Seeing a certain bare spot, they asked the gardener: “Disciple, everywhere else this garden has dense shade, but in this spot there is not so much as a tree or a shrub.
1	Seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gardener	gardener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Disciple	disciple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
16	else	else	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
20	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	shade	shade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
27	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
32	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	shrub	shrub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | monks *= monk* *not said here* | a certain bare spot |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer spot=Stimulus |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | monks *= monk* |  | the gardener |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent gardener=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | present | Disciple | dense shade |  |  |  | this garden *nsubj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shade=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | monks *= monk* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as a tree or a shrub; much *property* | tree rules |

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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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