---
title: Now when the lion heard these words, he was delighted, and said to h… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now when the lion heard these words, he was delighted, and said to his mate: “Let our cub eat first; then I will eat, and you shall eat after me.” Who acts: lion, cub, mate. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 6

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Now when the lion heard these words, he was delighted, and said to his mate: “Let our cub eat first; then I will eat, and you shall eat after me.”

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**Who acts:** lion, cub, mate · **What happens:** hear, be, say, let, eat · **To what, where:** words, mate · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lion, cub, mate), 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:pg74064:16:6
# text = Now when the lion heard these words, he was delighted, and said to his mate: “Let our cub eat first; then I will eat, and you shall eat after me.”
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	mate	mate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
21	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	cub	cub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
24	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
26	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
35	after	after	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | the lion | this words |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | lion |  |  |  |  | delighted *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the lion *not said here* |  | lion's mate |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to mate=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **eat** *in a quote* | present | our cub |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **eat** *in a quote* | future | the lion *= lion* |  |  |  | then |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **eat** *in a quote* | shall | lion's mate *= mate* |  |  |  | after the lion *= lion* |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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