---
title: For so long as we possess this tree, we cannot suffer injury of any… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: For so long as we possess this tree, we cannot suffer injury of any kind from anyone, even from Indra, king of the gods, much less from any other.” Who acts: we. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 30

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For so long as we possess this tree, we cannot suffer injury of any kind from anyone, even from Indra, king of the gods, much less from any other.”

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** possess, not suffer, injure · **To what, where:** tree, injury, anyone, kind

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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 (we), 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:pg74064:16:32
# text = For so long as we possess this tree, we cannot suffer injury of any kind from anyone, even from Indra, king of the gods, much less from any other.”
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	obl	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
14	injury	injury	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	even	even	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	Indra	Indra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	appos	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	much	much	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	obl	_	_
34	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | present | we | this tree |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot tree=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **suffer** | can | we | injury of any kind |  | anyone |  | Indra *parataxis* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer injury=Stimulus for long=Attribute |
| 3 | **injure** |  |  | any kind |  |  |  |  | nom injury «state transitive»: of=patient |

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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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