---
title: What you must do is to pull up the saplings by the roots, note the l… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: What you must do is to pull up the saplings by the roots, note the length of the roots, water plentifully the saplings that have long roots, but sparingly those that have short roots.” Who acts: you, saplings. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14, with 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What you must do is to pull up the saplings by the roots, note the length of the roots, water plentifully the saplings that have long roots, but sparingly those that have short roots.”

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**Who acts:** you, saplings · **What happens:** do, be, note, have · **To what, where:** length, long roots, short roots

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, saplings), 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:pg74064:14:29
# text = What you must do is to pull up the saplings by the roots, note the length of the roots, water plentifully the saplings that have long roots, but sparingly those that have short roots.”
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	csubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	saplings	sapling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	note	note	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
23	plentifully	plentifully	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	saplings	sapling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	_
26	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
27	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
28	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	sparingly	sparingly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	obl	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | must | you |  |  |  |  | What *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | by the roots; those *obl*; the saplings *obj*; pull *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **note** | infinitive |  | the length of the roots and water and the saplings |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent length=Topic |
| 4 | **have** | present | the saplings | long roots |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | present |  | short roots |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Patient |

<!-- .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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