---
title: This then must be the elephants' burying place," I said to myself, "… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: This then must be the elephants' burying place," I said to myself, "and they must have brought me here that I might cease to persecute them, seeing that I want nothing but their tusks, and here lie more than I could carry away in a lifetime." Who acts: This, forest, I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nig
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 18, sentence 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This then must be the elephants' burying place," I said to myself, "and they must have brought me here that I might cease to persecute them, seeing that I want nothing but their tusks, and here lie more than I could carry away in a lifetime."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** This, forest, I · **What happens:** bury, be, say, bring, cease, persecute · **To what, where:** burying place, forest, elephants, nothing, more, lifetime · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, forest, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg128:18:86
# text = This then must be the elephants' burying place," I said to myself, "and they must have brought me here that I might cease to persecute them, seeing that I want nothing but their tusks, and here lie more than I could carry away in a lifetime."
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	burying	bury	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	amod	_	_
9	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux	_	_
22	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	cease	cease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	persecute	persecute	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
37	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	36	obj	_	_
38	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
39	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	tusks	tusk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	44	advmod	_	_
44	lie	lie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
45	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	44	obj	_	_
46	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	advcl	_	_
50	away	away	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bury** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | must | This | the elephants's burying place |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | forest |  | forest |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to myself=Recipient |
| 4 | **bring** | must · perfect · passive |  | elephants *= elephant* |  | here |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme i=Destination |
| 5 | **cease** | might | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **persecute** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | elephants *= elephant* |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 7 | **see** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **want** | present | I | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot nothing=Theme |
| 9 | **lie** | present |  | more |  | here |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location more=Theme |
| 10 | **carry away** | could | I |  |  | a lifetime |  | away *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in lifetime=Location |

<!-- .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 Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (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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