---
title: If you ask him also when he comes, you may obtain safety for your li… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: If you ask him also when he comes, you may obtain safety for your little ones.” Who acts: you, King. 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 46

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If you ask him also when he comes, you may obtain safety for your little ones.”

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**Who acts:** you, King · **What happens:** ask, come, obtain · **To what, where:** King, safety

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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 (you, King), 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:pg74064:5:48
# text = If you ask him also when he comes, you may obtain safety for your little ones.”
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	also	also	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	obtain	obtain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  | King |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 2 | **come** | present | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **obtain** | may | you | safety |  |  |  | for your little ones | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent safety=Theme for one=Asset |

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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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