---
title: Said the Teacher to him: “Of a truth, monk, did you not, in a previo… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Said the Teacher to him: “Of a truth, monk, did you not, in a previous state of existence, by exerting yourself, get and give to a young prince no bigger than a piece of meat, dominion over the city of Benāres, a city twelve leagues in measure?” Who acts: Teacher. A sentence of «The grateful elephan
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 22

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Said the Teacher to him: “Of a truth, monk, did you not, in a previous state of existence, by exerting yourself, get and give to a young prince no bigger than a piece of meat, dominion over the city of Benāres, a city twelve leagues in measure?”

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**Who acts:** Teacher · **What happens:** say, not do, exert, get, give · **To what, where:** effort, previous state, city, young prince · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Teacher), 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:pg74064:3:24
# text = Said the Teacher to him: “Of a truth, monk, did you not, in a previous state of existence, by exerting yourself, get and give to a young prince no bigger than a piece of meat, dominion over the city of Benāres, a city twelve leagues in measure?”
1	Said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
14	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	previous	previous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	exerting	exert	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
27	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	no	no	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	35	amod	_	_
38	than	than	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
44	dominion	dominion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
45	over	over	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	Benāres	Benāres	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	appos	_	_
53	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	54	nummod	_	_
54	leagues	league	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nmod	_	_
55	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	measure	measure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the Teacher |  | effort |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 2 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | past | the Teacher *not said here* | effort |  | a previous state of existence |  | of a truth and monk | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Eventuality |
| 3 | **exert** *in a quote* | gerund | the Teacher *not said here* | effort |  | the city of Benāres |  | dominion *obl* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yourself=Theme |
| 4 | **get** *in a quote* | infinitive | the Teacher *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **give** *in a quote* | infinitive | the Teacher *not said here* |  | a young prince |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to prince=Recipient |

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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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