---
title: One day he saluted the eldest ascetic, sat down on one side, and ask… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: One day he saluted the eldest ascetic, sat down on one side, and asked: “Reverend Sir, is there anything you need?” Who acts: eldest, anything, you. 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 151

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One day he saluted the eldest ascetic, sat down on one side, and asked: “Reverend Sir, is there anything you need?”

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**Who acts:** eldest, anything, you · **What happens:** salute, sit down, ask, be, need · **To what, where:** eldest ascetic, one side · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, anything, you), 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:pg74064:9:161
# text = One day he saluted the eldest ascetic, sat down on one side, and asked: “Reverend Sir, is there anything you need?”
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saluted	salute	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	ascetic	ascetic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	down	down	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	Reverend	Reverend	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
23	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	22	expl	_	_
24	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	nsubj	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **salute** | past | eldest *= eld* | the eldest ascetic |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit down** | past |  |  |  | one side |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on side=Location |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  | Reverend Sir *vocative* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **be** *in a quote* | present | anything |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **need** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

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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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