--- title: But that man, that betrayer of friends, even as he sat on the back o… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: But that man, that betrayer of friends, even as he sat on the back of the Future Buddha, thought: “If anybody asks me, I must be able to tell him where this elephant lives.” Who acts: man, anybody, elephant. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4, with its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/126/) [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/) / 126 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 126 But that man, that betrayer of friends, even as he sat on the back of the Future Buddha, thought: “If anybody asks me, I must be able to tell him where this elephant lives.” **Who acts:** man, anybody, elephant · **What happens:** sit, think, ask, be, tell, live · **To what, where:** friends, back, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (man, anybody, elephant), 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:pg74064:4:132 # text = But that man, that betrayer of friends, even as he sat on the back of the Future Buddha, thought: “If anybody asks me, I must be able to tell him where this elephant lives.” 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 2 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 3 det _ _ 3 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 6 det _ _ 6 betrayer betrayer NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 appos _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 friends friend NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 10 even even ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 11 as as SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 14 on on ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 back back NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 Future Future PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 compound _ _ 20 Buddha Buddha PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 22 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 23 : : PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 24 “ " PUNCT `` _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 If if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 anybody anybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 27 nsubj _ _ 27 asks ask VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ _ 28 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 30 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 31 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 33 cop _ _ 33 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 ccomp _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 iobj _ _ 37 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 40 advmod _ _ 38 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 39 det _ _ 39 elephant elephant NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 40 lives live VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ” " PUNCT '' _ 33 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | man | friends *not said here* | | the back of the Future Buddha | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent friend=Theme on back=Location | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | that man | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | anybody | | that man *= man* | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | must | that man *= man* | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | that man *= man* *not said here* | | man | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **live** *in a quote* | present | this elephant | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 125](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/125/) - next →: [sentence 127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/127/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/)