---
title: So they said not a word to the elephant about the king’s death, but… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: So they said not a word to the elephant about the king’s death, but waited on him just as if nothing had happened. Who acts: children, nothing, 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 70

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So they said not a word to the elephant about the king’s death, but waited on him just as if nothing had happened.

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**Who acts:** children, nothing, king · **What happens:** not say, wait, happen, die · **To what, where:** word, elephant · **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 (children, nothing, 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:pg74064:3:72
# text = So they said not a word to the elephant about the king’s death, but waited on him just as if nothing had happened.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
20	just	just	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | past | children *= child* | a word | the elephant about the king's death |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent word=Topic to elephant=Recipient |
| 2 | **wait** | past | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on king | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on he=Location |
| 3 | **happen** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | nothing |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **die** |  | the king |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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