---
title: But when, monks, unpleasant remarks reach a monk, that is the time t… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: But when, monks, unpleasant remarks reach a monk, that is the time to find out whether he is really gentle, really meek, really tranquil.” Who acts: monks, that, Monk. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 9, sentence 84

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But when, monks, unpleasant remarks reach a monk, that is the time to find out whether he is really gentle, really meek, really tranquil.”

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**Who acts:** monks, that, Monk · **What happens:** reach, be, find out · **To what, where:** monk, time · **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 (monks, that, Monk), 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:pg74064:9:89
# text = But when, monks, unpleasant remarks reach a monk, that is the time to find out whether he is really gentle, really meek, really tranquil.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	monks	monk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	remarks	remark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
8	reach	reach	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	really	really	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	gentle	gentle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	really	really	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	meek	meek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
28	really	really	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	tranquil	tranquil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | present | monks and unpleasant remarks | a monk |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent monk=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present | that | the time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **find out** | to-infinitive | monks and unpleasant remarks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | Monk |  |  |  |  | gentle *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | Monk *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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