---
title: When, your majesty, my father said to me in the hour of death: ‘Not… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: When, your majesty, my father said to me in the hour of death: ‘Not short,’ what he meant was: ‘Do not break with your friends quickly.’ Who acts: father. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 6, sentence 130

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When, your majesty, my father said to me in the hour of death: ‘Not short,’ what he meant was: ‘Do not break with your friends quickly.’

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**Who acts:** father · **What happens:** say, not be, ', mean, not break · **To what, where:** majesty, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father), 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:pg74064:6:130
# text = When, your majesty, my father said to me in the hour of death: ‘Not short,’ what he meant was: ‘Do not break with your friends quickly.’
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
17	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’	'	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
22	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	24	obj	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
27	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
34	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | my father | your majesty | me |  | hour |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to i=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | short *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **'** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **mean** | past | father |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **break** | infinitive · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | with your friends; quickly *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with friend=Instrument |

<!-- .note -->
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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