--- title: When he was born, he was pure white, like a mass of silver; moreover… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: When he was born, he was pure white, like a mass of silver; moreover his eyes were like globules of jewels, and from them shone forth the Five Brightnesses; his mouth was like a crimson blanket; his trunk was like a rope of silver, ornamented with spots of ruddy gold; his four feet were as if rubbed --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/104/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/) / 104 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 104 When he was born, he was pure white, like a mass of silver; moreover his eyes were like globules of jewels, and from them shone forth the Five Brightnesses; his mouth was like a crimson blanket; his trunk was like a rope of silver, ornamented with spots of ruddy gold; his four feet were as if rubbed with lac. **Who acts:** Buddha, eyes, mouth, trunk, crimson blanket · **What happens:** bear, be, shine, ornament, rub · **To what, where:** Buddha, Five Brightnesses, rope, four feet This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Buddha, eyes, mouth, trunk), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:4:110 # text = When he was born, he was pure white, like a mass of silver; moreover his eyes were like globules of jewels, and from them shone forth the Five Brightnesses; his mouth was like a crimson blanket; his trunk was like a rope of silver, ornamented with spots of ruddy gold; his four feet were as if rubbed with lac. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux:pass _ _ 4 born bear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 8 pure pure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 11 like like ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 mass mass NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 silver silver NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ; ; PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 17 moreover moreover ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 18 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj _ _ 20 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 21 like like ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 globules globule NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 jewels jewel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 27 from from ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obl _ _ 29 shone shine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 30 forth forth ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 Five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 nummod _ _ 33 Brightnesses Brightness PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 29 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ; ; PUNCT : _ 41 punct _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 37 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 cop _ _ 38 like like ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 crimson crimson NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ _ 41 blanket blanket NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ; ; PUNCT : _ 48 punct _ _ 43 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 trunk trunk NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 46 like like ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 rope rope NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 parataxis _ _ 49 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 50 silver silver NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 52 ornamented ornament VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 48 acl _ _ 53 with with ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 54 spots spot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 obl _ _ 55 of of ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 ruddy ruddy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 amod _ _ 57 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 58 ; ; PUNCT : _ 65 punct _ _ 59 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 61 nmod:poss _ _ 60 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 61 nummod _ _ 61 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 65 nsubj:pass _ _ 62 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 65 aux:pass _ _ 63 as as SCONJ IN _ 65 mark _ _ 64 if if SCONJ IN _ 65 mark _ _ 65 rubbed rub VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 acl _ _ 66 with with ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 67 lac lac NOUN NN Number=Sing 65 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 68 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **bear** | past · passive | | Buddha | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 2 | **is** | past | Buddha | | | | | like a mass of silver; white *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | past | Buddha's eyes | | | | | like globules; of jewels; moreover *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **shine** | past | | the Five Brightnesses | | | | from eyes *= eye*; forth *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent brightness=Theme | | 5 | **is** | past | Buddha's mouth | | | | | like a crimson blanket | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | past | Buddha's trunk | | | | | like a rope; of silver | tree rules | | 7 | **ornament** | participle | | a rope *not said here* | | | | with spots of ruddy gold | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with spot=Theme | | 8 | **rub** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive | a crimson blanket *not said here* | Buddha's four feet | | | | with lac | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: subject=Destination with lac=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 103](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/103/) - next →: [sentence 105](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/105/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/)