---
title: Now when he reached the age of discretion, when he was about sixteen… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now when he reached the age of discretion, when he was about sixteen years of age, the king addressed him. Who acts: Buddha, king. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 7, sentence 159

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Now when he reached the age of discretion, when he was about sixteen years of age, the king addressed him.

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**Who acts:** Buddha, king · **What happens:** reach, be, address · **To what, where:** age, sixteen years, Buddha

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Buddha, 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:pg74064:7:166
# text = Now when he reached the age of discretion, when he was about sixteen years of age, the king addressed him.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	discretion	discretion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	about	about	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	sixteen	sixteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	addressed	address	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | Buddha | the age of discretion |  |  | now |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent age=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Buddha | sixteen years |  |  | of age |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **address** | past | the king |  | Buddha |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination |

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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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