---
title: For the most part, the _Jātaka_ stories purport to relate incidents… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: For the most part, the _Jātaka_ stories purport to relate incidents in Gotama’s previous states of existence as a human being. Who acts: Jātaka stories. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 2, sentence 9

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For the most part, the \_Jātaka\_ stories purport to relate incidents in Gotama’s previous states of existence as a human being.

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**Who acts:** Jātaka stories · **What happens:** purport, relate · **To what, where:** incidents, previous states

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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 (Jātaka stories), 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:pg74064:2:10
# text = For the most part, the _Jātaka_ stories purport to relate incidents in Gotama’s previous states of existence as a human being.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Jātaka	Jātaka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	8	punct	_	_
10	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
11	purport	purport	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	relate	relate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	incidents	incident	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	Gotama	Gotama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	previous	previous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	states	state	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	_
25	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **purport** | present | Jātaka stories |  |  |  |  | for the most part | tree rules |
| 2 | **relate** | to-infinitive | Jātaka stories *not said here* | incidents |  |  |  | in Gotama's previous states of existence *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent incident=Theme in state=Goal |

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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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