---
title: At that time a certain wise man saw those monkeys working away in th… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: At that time a certain wise man saw those monkeys working away in the king’s garden, and said to them: “Master-monkeys, why are you pulling up by the roots every one of those young trees and watering them plentifully or sparingly according as the roots are large or small?” Who acts: certain wise man
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 145

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At that time a certain wise man saw those monkeys working away in the king’s garden, and said to them: “Master-monkeys, why are you pulling up by the roots every one of those young trees and watering them plentifully or sparingly according as the roots are large or small?”

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**Who acts:** certain wise man, monkeys, Master monkeys · **What happens:** see, work away, say, pull up, water, accord · **To what, where:** monkeys, one · **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 (certain wise man, monkeys, Master monkeys), 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:pg74064:13:154
# text = At that time a certain wise man saw those monkeys working away in the king’s garden, and said to them: “Master-monkeys, why are you pulling up by the roots every one of those young trees and watering them plentifully or sparingly according as the roots are large or small?”
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	away	away	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	Master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
30	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	acl	_	_
33	up	up	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	by	by	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
37	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	38	det	_	_
38	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
41	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	watering	water	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	conj	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	plentifully	plentifully	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	sparingly	sparingly	ADV	RB	_	46	conj	_	_
49	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	case	_	_
50	as	as	ADP	IN	_	49	fixed	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
53	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
54	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	ccomp	_	_
55	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | a certain wise man | that monkeys |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer monkey=Stimulus |
| 2 | **work away** | gerund | that monkeys *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in the king's garden; away *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in garden=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | a certain wise man *not said here* |  | monkeys *= monkey* |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient |
| 4 | **pull up** *in a quote* | present · progressive | monkeys *= monkey* | every one of that young trees |  |  |  | by the roots | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 5 | **water** *in a quote* | gerund | monkeys *= monkey* *not said here* | monkeys *= monkey* |  |  |  | accord the roots; plentifully *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Destination |
| 6 | **accord** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Master monkeys |  |  |  |  | large *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** *in a quote* |  | Master monkeys *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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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