---
title: And seeing the ivory-carvers making various kinds of ivory products,… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: And seeing the ivory-carvers making various kinds of ivory products, he asked: “But, sirs, how much would you make if you could get the tusk of a real live elephant?” Who acts: man, ivory carvers, you. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4, with its depen
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 131

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And seeing the ivory-carvers making various kinds of ivory products, he asked: “But, sirs, how much would you make if you could get the tusk of a real live elephant?”

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**Who acts:** man, ivory carvers, you · **What happens:** see, make, ask, get · **To what, where:** ivory carvers, various kinds, tusk · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, ivory carvers, you), 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:pg74064:4:137
# text = And seeing the ivory-carvers making various kinds of ivory products, he asked: “But, sirs, how much would you make if you could get the tusk of a real live elephant?”
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
2	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	ivory	ivory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	carvers	carver	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	various	various	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	ivory	ivory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	products	product	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	sirs	sir	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
23	much	much	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	tusk	tusk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
35	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	live	live	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | man *not said here* | the ivory carvers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer carver=Stimulus |
| 2 | **make** | gerund | the ivory carvers *not said here* | various kinds of ivory products |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset kind=Product |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man |  |  |  |  | sirs *parataxis* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **make** *in a quote* | would | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | could | you | the tusk of a real live elephant |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tusk=Stimulus |

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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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