---
title: The citizens closed the gates of the city and sent the following mes… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The citizens closed the gates of the city and sent the following message to the king of Kosala: “The chief consort of our king is about to give birth to a child. Who acts: citizens, chief consort. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3, with its dependency
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 72

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The citizens closed the gates of the city and sent the following message to the king of Kosala: “The chief consort of our king is about to give birth to a child.

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**Who acts:** citizens, chief consort · **What happens:** close, send, follow, be, give · **To what, where:** gates, following message, king, birth, child · **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 (citizens, chief consort), 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:pg74064:3:74
# text = The citizens closed the gates of the city and sent the following message to the king of Kosala: “The chief consort of our king is about to give birth to a child.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	citizens	citizen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	closed	close	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	amod	_	_
13	message	message	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Kosala	Kosala	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	consort	consort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | past | the citizens | the gates of the city |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **send** | past | the citizens *not said here* | the following message | the king of Kosala |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to king=Destination |
| 3 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the chief consort of our king |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the chief consort of our king *not said here* | birth | a child |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent birth=Theme to child=Recipient |

<!-- .note -->
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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