---
title: It may interest the reader to know that these texts, originating in… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: It may interest the reader to know that these texts, originating in North India in the lifetime of Gotama, were handed down by oral tradition for many generations, were reduced to canonical form within a century or two of the death of Gotama, were carried to Ceylon in the third century B.C., were wr
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 2, sentence 3

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It may interest the reader to know that these texts, originating in North India in the lifetime of Gotama, were handed down by oral tradition for many generations, were reduced to canonical form within a century or two of the death of Gotama, were carried to Ceylon in the third century B.C., were written down for the first time in the first century B.C., and were copied and recopied on palm-leaves by successive generations of scribes until comparatively recent times.

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**Who acts:** date, texts, oral tradition, successive generations, Gotama · **What happens:** interest, know, originate, hand down, reduce, carry · **To what, where:** North India, interest, canonical form, Ceylon, palm leaves · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (date, texts, oral tradition, successive generations), 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:pg74064:2:3
# text = It may interest the reader to know that these texts, originating in North India in the lifetime of Gotama, were handed down by oral tradition for many generations, were reduced to canonical form within a century or two of the death of Gotama, were carried to Ceylon in the third century B.C., were written down for the first time in the first century B.C., and were copied and recopied on palm-leaves by successive generations of scribes until comparatively recent times.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	interest	interest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	texts	text	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	originating	originate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	ccomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	North	North	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Gotama	Gotama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	handed	hand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
24	down	down	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	oral	oral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	tradition	tradition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	reduced	reduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	canonical	canonical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	within	within	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
40	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	conj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	Gotama	Gotama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	parataxis	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	Ceylon	Ceylon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
54	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	55	amod	_	_
55	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
56	B.C	B.C	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
59	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	aux:pass	_	_
60	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
61	down	down	ADP	RP	_	60	compound:prt	_	_
62	for	for	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
64	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	65	amod	_	_
65	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obl	_	_
66	in	in	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
68	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	69	amod	_	_
69	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obl	_	_
70	B.C	B.C	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	69	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	75	punct	_	_
73	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	75	cc	_	_
74	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	75	aux:pass	_	_
75	copied	copy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
76	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	77	cc	_	_
77	recopied	recopy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	75	conj	_	_
78	on	on	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
79	palm	palm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	79	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	77	obl	_	_
82	by	by	ADP	IN	_	84	case	_	_
83	successive	successive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	84	amod	_	_
84	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	75	obl	_	_
85	of	of	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
86	scribes	scribe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	84	nmod	_	_
87	until	until	ADP	IN	_	90	case	_	_
88	comparatively	comparatively	ADV	RB	_	89	advmod	_	_
89	recent	recent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	90	amod	_	_
90	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	75	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
91	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **interest** | may | date |  |  |  |  | the reader *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | to-infinitive | date *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **originate** | gerund | this texts |  |  | North India |  | in the lifetime of Gotama | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hand down** | past · passive | oral tradition | interest |  |  | for many generations |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 5 | **reduce** | past · passive | oral tradition *not said here* |  |  |  | century | to canonical form *goal* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_ING»: to form=Goal |
| 6 | **carry** | past · passive |  |  | Ceylon |  | century |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: to ceylon=Destination |
| 7 | **write down** | past · passive | oral tradition *not said here* |  |  |  | century; time |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V» |
| 8 | **copy** | past · passive | successive generations of scribes |  |  |  | time |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **recopy** | participle | successive generations of scribes *not said here* |  |  | palm leaves |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **die** |  | Gotama |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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