---
title: Knowing who he had been, he went from time to time, every seven or e… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Knowing who he had been, he went from time to time, every seven or eight days, and ministered to his former brothers. Who acts: eldest. 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 150

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Knowing who he had been, he went from time to time, every seven or eight days, and ministered to his former brothers.

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**Who acts:** eldest · **What happens:** know, go, minister

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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 (eldest), 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:pg74064:9:160
# text = Knowing who he had been, he went from time to time, every seven or eight days, and ministered to his former brothers.
1	Knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	1	obj	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
15	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	conj	_	_
18	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	ministered	minister	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | gerund | eldest *= eld* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | who *obj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer who=Stimulus |
| 2 | **go** | past | eldest *= eld* |  |  |  | day; time |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **minister** | participle | eldest *= eld* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to eldest's former brothers | 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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