---
title: It isn’t you I blame,--not I,-- Nor the other monkeys in the wood; V… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: It isn’t you I blame,--not I,-- Nor the other monkeys in the wood; Vissasena alone is the one to blame, Who asked you to tend his trees for him. Who acts: stanza, Vissasena, one. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 14, sentence 39

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It isn’t you I blame,--not I,-- Nor the other monkeys in the wood; Vissasena alone is the one to blame, Who asked you to tend his trees for him.

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**Who acts:** stanza, Vissasena, one · **What happens:** be, blame, ask, tend · **To what, where:** one, you, trees

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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 (stanza, Vissasena, one), 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:pg74064:14:40
# text = It isn’t you I blame,--not I,-- Nor the other monkeys in the wood; Vissasena alone is the one to blame, Who asked you to tend his trees for him.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	blame	blame	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	Nor	nor	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	Vissasena	Vissasena	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
22	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	blame	blame	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
30	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
31	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	iobj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	tend	tend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | stanza |  |  |  |  | you *nsubj*; I *nsubj*; blame *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | Vissasena | the one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **blame** | to-infinitive | stanza *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the one |  | you |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **tend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the one *not said here* | Vissasena's trees |  |  |  | for Vissasena | vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |

<!-- .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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