---
title: As the monks walked about, they saw a certain cleared space, and ask… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: As the monks walked about, they saw a certain cleared space, and asked: “This space is cleared, without growing trees; what, pray, is the reason for this?” Who acts: monks. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/14/11/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/14/) / 11

# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As the monks walked about, they saw a certain cleared space, and asked: “This space is cleared, without growing trees; what, pray, is the reason for this?”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** monks · **What happens:** walk, see, clear, ask, grow, pray · **To what, where:** certain cleared space, space, reason · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (monks), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74064:14:12
# text = As the monks walked about, they saw a certain cleared space, and asked: “This space is cleared, without growing trees; what, pray, is the reason for this?”
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
5	about	about	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	cleared	clear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	cleared	clear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	without	without	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	amod	_	_
25	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	33	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past | the monks |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | Monks *= monk* | a certain cleared space |  |  |  | what *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 3 | **clear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Monks *= monk* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **clear** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | this space |  |  |  | without growing trees | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: subject=Source |
| 6 | **grow** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **pray** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 8 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the reason |  |  |  | for this | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/14/10/)
- next →: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/14/12/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/14/)