---
title: In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha was reborn in a merchant’s household, and on the death of his father, succeeded to the post of merchant. Who acts: Brahmadatta, father. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 13, with its de
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 13, sentence 96

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In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha was reborn in a merchant’s household, and on the death of his father, succeeded to the post of merchant.

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**Who acts:** Brahmadatta, father · **What happens:** rule, reborn, succeed, die · **To what, where:** Benāres, Future Buddha, household

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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 (Brahmadatta, father), 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:pg74064:13:101
# text = In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha was reborn in a merchant’s household, and on the death of his father, succeeded to the post of merchant.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
3	past	past	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	Brahmadatta	Brahmadatta	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	ruled	rule	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Benāres	Benāres	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	Future	Future	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	reborn	reborn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’s	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	succeeded	succeed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rule** | past | Brahmadatta |  |  | Benāres | time | on the death of Buddha's father | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **reborn** | past · passive |  | the Future Buddha |  | a merchant's household |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **succeed** | past | Brahmadatta *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the post of merchant | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **die** |  | Buddha's father |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=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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