---
title: Now if the elephant had known that the king was dead, it would have… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now if the elephant had known that the king was dead, it would have broken his heart then and there. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 69

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Now if the elephant had known that the king was dead, it would have broken his heart then and there.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** know, be, break · **To what, where:** elephant, Buddha

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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 (king), 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:pg74064:3:71
# text = Now if the elephant had known that the king was dead, it would have broken his heart then and there.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past · perfect · passive |  | the elephant |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | the king |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **break** | would · perfect · passive |  | Buddha |  | there | then | king's heart *obj* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Patient heart=Result |

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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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