---
title: Then he said: “Monks, quarrels, brawls, contentions, wrangles,--all… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he said: “Monks, quarrels, brawls, contentions, wrangles,--all these are unprofitable. Who acts: Exalted One, these. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 5, sentence 31

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Then he said: “Monks, quarrels, brawls, contentions, wrangles,--all these are unprofitable.

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**Who acts:** Exalted One, these · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** Monks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Exalted One, these), 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:pg74064:5:33
# text = Then he said: “Monks, quarrels, brawls, contentions, wrangles,--all these are unprofitable.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	quarrels	quarrel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	brawls	brawl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	contentions	contention	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	wrangles	wrangle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	20	det:predet	_	_
18	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	20	nsubj	_	_
19	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	unprofitable	unprofitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Exalted One *= One* | Monks and quarrels and brawls and contentions and wrangles |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent monk=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | these |  |  |  |  | unprofitable *property* | tree rules |

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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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