---
title: The Teacher drew near and asked: “Monks, what is the subject that en… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The Teacher drew near and asked: “Monks, what is the subject that engages your attention now, as you sit here all gathered together?” Who acts: Teacher, Monks, subject, your. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 4, sentence 98

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The Teacher drew near and asked: “Monks, what is the subject that engages your attention now, as you sit here all gathered together?”

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**Who acts:** Teacher, Monks, subject, your · **What happens:** draw, ask, be, engage, sit, gather · **To what, where:** Monks, subject, attention · **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 (Teacher, Monks, subject, your), 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:pg74064:4:104
# text = The Teacher drew near and asked: “Monks, what is the subject that engages your attention now, as you sit here all gathered together?”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	near	near	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	engages	engage	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
24	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
25	all	all	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	gathered	gather	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	advcl	_	_
27	together	together	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | past | the Teacher |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the Teacher *not said here* |  | Monks |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent monk=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Monks | the subject |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **engage** *in a quote* | present | the subject | your attention |  |  | now |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attention=Patient |
| 5 | **sit** *in a quote* | present | Monks *= monk* |  |  | here |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **gather** *in a quote* | participle | Monks *= monk* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | all, together *property* | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **attend** *in a quote* |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom attention «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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