---
title: In the wilderness there are poison-trees: any leaf or flower or frui… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: In the wilderness there are poison-trees: any leaf or flower or fruit which you have not previously eaten, you must not eat without first obtaining my permission.” Who acts: poison trees, leaf, you, my. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15, with its dep
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 15, sentence 75

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In the wilderness there are poison-trees: any leaf or flower or fruit which you have not previously eaten, you must not eat without first obtaining my permission.”

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**Who acts:** poison trees, leaf, you, my · **What happens:** be, not eat, obtain, permit · **To what, where:** wilderness, permission

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poison trees, leaf, you, my), 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:pg74064:15:75
# text = In the wilderness there are poison-trees: any leaf or flower or fruit which you have not previously eaten, you must not eat without first obtaining my permission.”
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	previously	previously	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
27	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	29	advmod	_	_
29	obtaining	obtain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	permission	permission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **does** | present | poison trees and any leaf or flower or fruit |  |  | the wilderness; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in wilderness=Location |
| 2 | **not** **eat** | present · perfect | any leaf or flower or fruit |  |  |  |  | you *nsubj*; previously *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **eat** | must | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **obtain** | gerund | you *not said here* | my permission |  |  |  | first *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset permission=Theme |
| 5 | **permit** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom permission «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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