---
title: Then the griffin, angry because his mother had been made a slave, as… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the griffin, angry because his mother had been made a slave, asked the following boon of Vishnu: “May the snakes become my food!” Who acts: griffin, snakes. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 66

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Then the griffin, angry because his mother had been made a slave, asked the following boon of Vishnu: “May the snakes become my food!”

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**Who acts:** griffin, snakes · **What happens:** make, ask, follow, become · **To what, where:** mother, boon, food · **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 (griffin, snakes), 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:pg74064:16:69
# text = Then the griffin, angry because his mother had been made a slave, asked the following boon of Vishnu: “May the snakes become my food!”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
6	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	slave	slave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	case	_	_
18	boon	boon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Vishnu	Vishnu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	May	May	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · perfect · passive |  | Griffin's mother |  |  |  | a slave *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary slave=Product |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the griffin | the boon of Vishnu |  |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent boon=Recipient |
| 3 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **become** *in a quote* | present | the snakes | my food |  |  | may |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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