---
title: When the Future Buddha saw him, he asked: “For what purpose have you… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When the Future Buddha saw him, he asked: “For what purpose have you come?” Who acts: Future Buddha, Buddha, you. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 137

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When the Future Buddha saw him, he asked: “For what purpose have you come?”

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**Who acts:** Future Buddha, Buddha, you · **What happens:** see, ask, come · **To what, where:** elephant · **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 (Future Buddha, Buddha, 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:pg74064:4:143
# text = When the Future Buddha saw him, he asked: “For what purpose have you come?”
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Future	Future	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Buddha	Buddha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	For	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
14	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the Future Buddha | elephant |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Buddha |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **come** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | for purpose | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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