---
title: In olden times, in this very city of Sāvatthi, there was a certain k… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: In olden times, in this very city of Sāvatthi, there was a certain king. Who acts: certain king. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 9, sentence 106

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In olden times, in this very city of Sāvatthi, there was a certain king.

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**Who acts:** certain king · **What happens:** be

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (certain 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:pg74064:9:113
# text = In olden times, in this very city of Sāvatthi, there was a certain king.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	olden	olden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Sāvatthi	Sāvatthi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a certain king |  |  | there | time |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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