---
title: Just fifty years ago Sir Alexander Cunningham discovered among the r… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Just fifty years ago Sir Alexander Cunningham discovered among the ruins of a memorial mound or stūpa near the village of Bharahat, 120 miles southwest of Allahabad, a series of sculptures of the third century B.C., illustrating the legendary life of the Buddha and stories from the _Book of the Budd
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 2, sentence 81

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Just fifty years ago Sir Alexander Cunningham discovered among the ruins of a memorial mound or stūpa near the village of Bharahat, 120 miles southwest of Allahabad, a series of sculptures of the third century B.C., illustrating the legendary life of the Buddha and stories from the \_Book of the Buddha’s Previous Existences\_ or \_Jātaka Book\_.

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**Who acts:** Alexander, illustrating · **What happens:** discover, illustrate, be, ruin · **To what, where:** village, legendary life, \_ Book, Previous Existences, memorial mound

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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 (Alexander, illustrating), 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:pg74064:2:85
# text = Just fifty years ago Sir Alexander Cunningham discovered among the ruins of a memorial mound or stūpa near the village of Bharahat, 120 miles southwest of Allahabad, a series of sculptures of the third century B.C., illustrating the legendary life of the Buddha and stories from the _Book of the Buddha’s Previous Existences_ or _Jātaka Book_.
1	Just	just	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:desc	_	_
6	Alexander	Alexander	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	Cunningham	Cunningham	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	_
8	discovered	discover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	among	among	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ruins	ruin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	memorial	memorial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	mound	mound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	stūpa	stūpa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
18	near	near	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Bharahat	Bharahat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	120	120	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	compound	_	_
26	southwest	southwest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Allahabad	Allahabad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	series	series	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	sculptures	sculpture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	37	amod	_	_
37	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
38	B.C	B.C	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	illustrating	illustrate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	59	csubj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	legendary	legendary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	conj	_	_
50	from	from	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	_	_	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	Book	Book	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	59	cop	_	_
58	Previous	previous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	Existences	existence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	59	punct	_	_
61	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
62	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	Jātaka	Jātaka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	64	compound	_	_
64	Book	Book	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **discover** | past | Alexander  Sir |  |  | the village of Bharahat and miles southwest of Allahabad and a series of sculptures of the third century | year | among the ruins of a memorial mound or stūpa | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **illustrate** | gerund |  | the legendary life of the Buddha and stories |  | the \_ Book of the Buddha |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Destination |
| 3 | **is a** | present | illustrating | Previous Existences or Jātaka Book |  |  |  | Jātaka Book *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ruin** |  |  | a memorial mound or stūpa |  |  |  |  | nom ruin «state transitive»: of=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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