---
title: Then he identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the wise dicer was I myself.” Who acts: Teacher, Birth story, wise dicer. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 90

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Then he identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the wise dicer was I myself.”

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**Who acts:** Teacher, Birth story, wise dicer · **What happens:** identify, follow, be · **To what, where:** personages, Birth story, Teacher

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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 (Teacher, Birth story, wise dicer), 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:pg74064:14:95
# text = Then he identified the personages in the Birth-story as follows: “At that time the wise dicer was I myself.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	identified	identify	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	personages	personage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	Birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	follows	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	At	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	dicer	dicer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	conj	_	_
23	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	22	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **identify** | past | Teacher | the personages |  | the Birth story | then; time |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent personage=Theme |
| 2 | **follow** | present | the Birth story *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the wise dicer | Teacher |  |  |  | myself *obl:unmarked* | tree rules |

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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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