---
title: When the Exalted One returned to Sāvatthi and learned what had happe… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When the Exalted One returned to Sāvatthi and learned what had happened, he said to those backsliders: “Laymen, in former times also men mistook for a refuge what was no refuge at all, grasped with the grasp of reason, with the grasp of contradiction, and in a wilderness haunted by demons came to a 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 155

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When the Exalted One returned to Sāvatthi and learned what had happened, he said to those backsliders: “Laymen, in former times also men mistook for a refuge what was no refuge at all, grasped with the grasp of reason, with the grasp of contradiction, and in a wilderness haunted by demons came to a sorry end, becoming the food of ogres.

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**Who acts:** Exalted One, Sāvatthi, Laymen, refuge · **What happens:** exalt, return, learn, happen, say, mistake · **To what, where:** Sāvatthi, backsliders, refuge, all, wilderness, food · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Exalted One, Sāvatthi, Laymen, refuge), 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:pg74064:14:164
# text = When the Exalted One returned to Sāvatthi and learned what had happened, he said to those backsliders: “Laymen, in former times also men mistook for a refuge what was no refuge at all, grasped with the grasp of reason, with the grasp of contradiction, and in a wilderness haunted by demons came to a sorry end, becoming the food of ogres.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Exalted	exalt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
4	One	One	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Sāvatthi	Sāvatthi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	backsliders	backslider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Laymen	layman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl:unmarked	_	_
26	also	also	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	mistook	mistake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	refuge	refuge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	35	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
34	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	35	det	_	_
35	refuge	refuge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	grasped	grasp	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	acl	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	grasp	grasp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	grasp	grasp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	contradiction	contradiction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
53	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
56	haunted	haunt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	55	acl	_	_
57	by	by	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	demons	demon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obl	_	_
59	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
60	to	to	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
61	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
65	becoming	become	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	59	advcl	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	obj	_	_
68	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	ogres	ogre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	67	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **exalt** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **return** | past | the Exalted One |  | Sāvatthi |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to sāvatthi=Result |
| 3 | **learn** | past | the Exalted One *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Sāvatthi |  | that backsliders |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to backslider=Recipient |
| 6 | **mistake** *in a quote* | past | Laymen |  |  |  | time | for a refuge; with the grasp of contradiction; men *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | a refuge | no refuge |  | all |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **grasp** *in a quote* | participle |  | no refuge *not said here* |  |  |  | with the grasp of reason | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with grasp=Instrument |
| 9 | **haunt** *in a quote* | participle |  | a wilderness *not said here* |  |  |  | by demons | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 10 | **come** *in a quote* | past | Sāvatthi *not said here* |  |  | a wilderness | to a sorry end |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to end=Initial\_Location |
| 11 | **become** *in a quote* | gerund | Sāvatthi *not said here* | the food of ogres |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient food=Result |
| 12 | **grasp** *in a quote* |  |  | reason |  |  |  |  | nom grasp «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 13 | **grasp** *in a quote* |  |  | contradiction |  |  |  |  | nom grasp «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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