--- title: I came with this thought in my mind: ‘I will ask you for a fragment… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: I came with this thought in my mind: ‘I will ask you for a fragment of one of your tusks; if you will give it to me, I will take it and go and sell it and with the money it brings make a living.’” Who acts: I, you, tusk, my. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/139/) [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/) / 139 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 139 I came with this thought in my mind: ‘I will ask you for a fragment of one of your tusks; if you will give it to me, I will take it and go and sell it and with the money it brings make a living.’” **Who acts:** I, you, tusk, my · **What happens:** come, ask, give, take, go, sell · **To what, where:** mind, you, tusk, me, living 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 (I, you, tusk, my), 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:pg74064:4:145 # text = I came with this thought in my mind: ‘I will ask you for a fragment of one of your tusks; if you will give it to me, I will take it and go and sell it and with the money it brings make a living.’” 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 with with ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 5 det _ _ 5 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 mind mind NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 : : PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 10 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 14 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 13 iobj _ _ 15 for for ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 fragment fragment NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 17 nmod _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 tusks tusk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 24 if if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 to to ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 parataxis _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 conj _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 sell sell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 conj _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 obj _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 42 with with ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 money money NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 45 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 46 brings bring VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 34 conj _ _ 47 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 46 xcomp _ _ 48 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 living living NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 51 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 52 ” " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | I | | | my mind | | with this thought | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in mind=Location | | 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | future | I | | you | | | for a fragment of one of your tusks | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 3 | **give** *a condition, not said to happen* | future | you | tusk | me | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to i=Recipient | | 4 | **take** | future | I | tusk | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 5 | **go** | infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **sell** | infinitive | I *not said here* | tusk | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 7 | **bring** | present | tusk | | | | | with the money | tree rules | | 8 | **make** | infinitive | tusk *not said here* | a living | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset living=Product | | 9 | **mind** | | my | | | | | | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | 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 138](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/138/) - next →: [sentence 140](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/140/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/)