--- title: Said the Teacher: “Not only in their present state of existence have… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: Said the Teacher: “Not only in their present state of existence have utter fools of men, with the thought in their minds, ‘We’ll hit mosquitoes,’ hit themselves; in a previous state of existence also they were the very men who, with the thought in their minds, ‘We’ll hit a mosquito,’ hit something v --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/56/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/) / 56 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 56 Said the Teacher: “Not only in their present state of existence have utter fools of men, with the thought in their minds, ‘We’ll hit mosquitoes,’ hit themselves; in a previous state of existence also they were the very men who, with the thought in their minds, ‘We’ll hit a mosquito,’ hit something very different.” **Who acts:** Teacher, present state, We, men · **What happens:** say, have, hit, be, mind · **To what, where:** utter fools, mosquitoes, men, previous state, mosquito, something · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Teacher, present state, We, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:13:60 # text = Said the Teacher: “Not only in their present state of existence have utter fools of men, with the thought in their minds, ‘We’ll hit mosquitoes,’ hit themselves; in a previous state of existence also they were the very men who, with the thought in their minds, ‘We’ll hit a mosquito,’ hit something very different.” 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 3 det _ _ 3 Teacher teacher NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 : : PUNCT : _ 14 punct _ _ 5 “ " PUNCT `` _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 Not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 11 advmod _ _ 7 only only ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 10 present present ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 existence existence NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ _ 14 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _ 15 utter utter ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 fools fool NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 with with ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 minds mind NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 27 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ’ll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 hit hit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 conj _ _ 31 mosquitoes mosquito NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 34 punct _ _ 34 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _ 35 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT : _ 40 punct _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 previous previous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 existence existence NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ _ 43 also also ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 44 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 45 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 47 very very ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 48 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obl _ _ 49 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 66 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 51 with with ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 nsubj _ _ 54 in in ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 55 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 56 nmod:poss _ _ 56 minds mind NOUN NNS Number=Plur 53 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 57 , , PUNCT , _ 61 punct _ _ 58 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 61 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 59 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 61 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 60 ’ll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 61 aux _ _ 61 hit hit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 56 parataxis _ _ 62 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 63 mosquito mosquito NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 64 , , PUNCT , _ 61 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 65 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 61 punct _ _ 66 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 acl:relcl _ _ 67 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 66 obj _ _ 68 very very ADV RB _ 69 advmod _ _ 69 different different ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 67 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 70 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 71 ” " PUNCT '' _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Teacher | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **have** *in a quote* | present | men's present state of existence | utter fools of men | | | | with the thought in men's minds | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fool=Patient | | 3 | **hit** *in a quote* | future | We | mosquitoes | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mosquito=Co-Theme | | 4 | **hit** *in a quote* | past | | men *= man* | | a previous state of existence | | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme in state=Destination | | 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | men *= man* | the men | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **hit** *in a quote* | future | We | a mosquito | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mosquito=Co-Theme | | 7 | **hit** *in a quote* | past | the men | something | | | | the thought in men's minds *nsubj* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme something=Co-Theme | | 8 | **mind** *in a quote* | | men *= man* | | | | | | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | | 9 | **mind** *in a quote* | | men *= man* | | | | | | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/55/) - next →: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/57/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/)