--- title: Said the Teacher: “Thus, lay disciples, in a previous state of exist… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: Said the Teacher: “Thus, lay disciples, 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, disciples, We, men. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/77/) [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/) / 77 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 77 Said the Teacher: “Thus, lay disciples, 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, disciples, We, men · **What happens:** say, lay, be, hit, mind · **To what, where:** disciples, previous state, men, 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, disciples, 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:pg74064:13:81 # text = Said the Teacher: “Thus, lay disciples, 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 : _ 8 punct _ _ 5 “ " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 Thus thus ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 8 lay lay VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 1 conj _ _ 9 disciples disciple NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 11 in in ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 previous previous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 existence existence NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ _ 17 also also ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 19 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 very very ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 23 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 40 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 with with ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 minds mind NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 32 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ’ll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 hit hit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 parataxis _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 mosquito mosquito NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 35 punct _ _ 40 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 acl:relcl _ _ 41 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 40 obj _ _ 42 very very ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 43 different different ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ” " 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 | | 2 | **lay** *in a quote* | present | the Teacher *not said here* | disciples | | a previous state of existence | | thus *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent disciple=Theme in state=Destination | | 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | disciples *= disciple* | the men | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **hit** *in a quote* | future | We | a mosquito | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mosquito=Co-Theme | | 5 | **hit** *in a quote* | past | the men | something | | | | the thought in disciples's minds *nsubj*; different *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme something=Co-Theme | | 6 | **mind** *in a quote* | | disciples *= disciple* | | | | | | 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 76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/76/) - next →: [sentence 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/78/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/13/)