--- title: As the courtiers returned to the king, they reflected: “In case we a… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: As the courtiers returned to the king, they reflected: “In case we are asked, ‘Where is the prince?’ we will say, ‘We have not seen the prince; it must be that upon seeing a cloud arise he plunged into the water and went on ahead of us.’” Who acts: courtiers, we, case, that. A sentence of «The grate --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/126/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/) / 126 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 126 As the courtiers returned to the king, they reflected: “In case we are asked, ‘Where is the prince?’ we will say, ‘We have not seen the prince; it must be that upon seeing a cloud arise he plunged into the water and went on ahead of us.’” **Who acts:** courtiers, we, case, that, cloud · **What happens:** return, reflect, ask, be, say, not see · **To what, where:** we, prince, that, cloud, water · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (courtiers, we, case, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:3:131 # text = As the courtiers returned to the king, they reflected: “In case we are asked, ‘Where is the prince?’ we will say, ‘We have not seen the prince; it must be that upon seeing a cloud arise he plunged into the water and went on ahead of us.’” 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 courtiers courtier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 returned return VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 advcl _ _ 5 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 9 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 reflected reflect VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 11 : : PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 12 “ " PUNCT `` _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 In in SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 17 mark _ _ 14 case case NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 fixed _ _ 15 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux:pass _ _ 17 asked ask VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 28 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 19 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 Where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 23 advmod _ _ 21 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ? ? PUNCT . _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 23 punct _ _ 26 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 27 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 28 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 30 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 28 ccomp _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 ; ; PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 39 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 40 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 41 cop _ _ 41 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 46 nsubj _ _ 42 upon upon SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 43 seeing see VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 41 acl _ _ 44 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 cloud cloud NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ _ 46 arise arise VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 47 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 48 plunged plunge VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 ccomp _ _ 49 into into ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ _ 52 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 53 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 conj _ _ 54 on on ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ _ 55 ahead ahead ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ _ 56 of of ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 57 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 53 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 46 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 59 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 46 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 60 ” " PUNCT '' _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **return** | past | the courtiers | | | | | to the king *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to king=Result | | 2 | **reflect** | past | courtiers *= courtier* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present · passive | | we | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | | the prince | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **say** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | future | we | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **not** **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect | We | the prince | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer prince=Stimulus | | 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | must | case | that | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **see** *in a quote* | gerund | | a cloud | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cloud=Stimulus | | 9 | **arise** *in a quote* | present | that | | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **plunge** *in a quote* | past | cloud | | | the water | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into water=Initial\_Location | | 11 | **go on** *in a quote* | past | cloud *not said here* | | | | | of us; ahead *property* | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 125](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/125/) - next →: [sentence 127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/127/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/3/)