---
title: Having occasion, for some purpose or other, to go to the garden, he… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Having occasion, for some purpose or other, to go to the garden, he saw those monkeys working away, and asked them: “Who told you to do this?” Who acts: son, monkeys. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 31

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Having occasion, for some purpose or other, to go to the garden, he saw those monkeys working away, and asked them: “Who told you to do this?”

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**Who acts:** son, monkeys · **What happens:** have, go, see, work away, ask, tell · **To what, where:** occasion, garden, monkeys, you, this · **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 (son, monkeys), 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:pg74064:14:32
# text = Having occasion, for some purpose or other, to go to the garden, he saw those monkeys working away, and asked them: “Who told you to do this?”
1	Having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
2	occasion	occasion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	_
21	away	away	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
27	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
33	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | son *not said here* | occasion |  |  |  | for some purpose | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent occasion=Patient |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* |  |  | the garden |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to garden=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **see** | past | son | that monkeys |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **work away** | gerund | that monkeys *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | son *not said here* |  | monkeys *= monkey* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  |  | you |  |  | Who *nsubj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |

<!-- .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.

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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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