---
title: The monkeys, in obedience to the instructions of their leader, are p… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The monkeys, in obedience to the instructions of their leader, are pulling up the young fig-trees by the roots, examining the roots, watering plentifully the trees with long roots, but sparingly the trees with short roots, and planting them again. Who acts: monkeys. A sentence of «The grateful eleph
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 13

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The monkeys, in obedience to the instructions of their leader, are pulling up the young fig-trees by the roots, examining the roots, watering plentifully the trees with long roots, but sparingly the trees with short roots, and planting them again.

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**Who acts:** monkeys · **What happens:** pull up, examine, water, plant, instruct · **To what, where:** young fig trees, roots, trees, monkeys, leader

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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 (monkeys), 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:pg74064:3:13
# text = The monkeys, in obedience to the instructions of their leader, are pulling up the young fig-trees by the roots, examining the roots, watering plentifully the trees with long roots, but sparingly the trees with short roots, and planting them again.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	obedience	obedience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	instructions	instruction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	leader	leader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
17	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
18	fig	fig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	examining	examine	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	watering	water	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	conj	_	_
30	plentifully	plentifully	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	sparingly	sparingly	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	planting	plant	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	conj	_	_
47	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	again	again	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pull up** | present · progressive | the monkeys and obedience to the instructions of monkeys's leader | the young fig trees |  |  |  | by the roots; the trees with short roots *obl* | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 2 | **examine** | gerund | the monkeys and obedience to the instructions of monkeys's leader *not said here* | the roots |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Theme |
| 3 | **water** | gerund | the monkeys and obedience to the instructions of monkeys's leader *not said here* | the trees |  |  |  | with long roots; plentifully *property* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent tree=Destination with root=Theme |
| 4 | **plant** | gerund | the monkeys and obedience to the instructions of monkeys's leader *not said here* | monkeys *= monkey* |  |  | again |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **instruct** |  |  | monkeys's leader |  |  |  |  | nom instruction «communication 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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