---
title: But the old woman said: “By no means! for in a still higher sense yo… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: But the old woman said: “By no means! for in a still higher sense you yourself are my very own son, since you have shown such a measure of compassion to me and my son at this time.” Who acts: old woman, you. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with it
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/121/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/) / 121

# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 121

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the old woman said: “By no means! for in a still higher sense you yourself are my very own son, since you have shown such a measure of compassion to me and my son at this time.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old woman, you · **What happens:** say, mean, be, show, measure · **To what, where:** own son, measure, compassion · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74064:16:125
# text = But the old woman said: “By no means! for in a still higher sense you yourself are my very own son, since you have shown such a measure of compassion to me and my son at this time.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	By	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	obl	_	_
10	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	still	still	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	amod	_	_
17	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
19	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	nmod	_	_
20	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
22	very	very	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	shown	show	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
30	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	32	det:predet	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	measure	measure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	compassion	compassion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
42	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | past | the old woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | by no; for a higher sense | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot for sense=Attribute |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | you | my own son |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 4 | **show** *in a quote* | present · perfect | you | such measure of compassion to me |  |  | time |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent measure=Recipient |
| 5 | **measure** *in a quote* |  |  | compassion to me |  |  |  |  | nom measure «act transitive»: of=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 120](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/120/)
- next →: [sentence 122](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/122/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/)