--- title: Said the Teacher: “Monks, not only in his present state of existence… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: Said the Teacher: “Monks, not only in his present state of existence has Devadatta gone about for the purpose of killing me; in a previous state of existence also he went about for the purpose of killing me in the very same way.” Who acts: Teacher, present state, purpose, Devadatta. A sentence of «T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/90/) [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/) / 90 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 90 Said the Teacher: “Monks, not only in his present state of existence has Devadatta gone about for the purpose of killing me; in a previous state of existence also he went about for the purpose of killing me in the very same way.” **Who acts:** Teacher, present state, purpose, Devadatta · **What happens:** say, go about, kill · **To what, where:** Monks, Teacher, previous state, same way · **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 (Teacher, present state, purpose, Devadatta), 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:pg74064:4:94 # text = Said the Teacher: “Monks, not only in his present state of existence has Devadatta gone about for the purpose of killing me; in a previous state of existence also he went about for the purpose of killing me in the very same way.” 1 Said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Teacher teacher NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 : : PUNCT : _ 6 punct _ _ 5 “ " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 Monks monk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 8 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 13 advmod _ _ 9 only only ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 10 in in ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 12 present present ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 existence existence NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ _ 16 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 17 Devadatta Devadatta PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 18 gone go VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 1 ccomp _ _ 19 about about ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 20 for for ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 purpose purpose NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 23 of of SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 24 killing kill VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 22 acl _ _ 25 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT : _ 35 punct _ _ 27 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 previous previous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 existence existence NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ _ 33 also also ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 34 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 conj _ _ 36 about about ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 37 for for ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 purpose purpose NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 40 of of SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 41 killing kill VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 39 acl _ _ 42 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 in in ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 45 very very ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 ” " PUNCT '' _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Teacher | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **go about** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Teacher's present state of existence | Monks | | | | for the purpose; Devadatta *nsubj*; about *property* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **kill** *in a quote* | gerund | the purpose *not said here* | the Teacher *= teacher* | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | | 4 | **go about** *in a quote* | past | Devadatta | | | a previous state of existence | | for the purpose; about *property* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **kill** *in a quote* | gerund | the purpose *not said here* | the Teacher *= teacher* | | the same way | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=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 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/89/) - next →: [sentence 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/91/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/4/)