---
title: Is it not like a candle, which, when it is exposed to the wind, flic… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Is it not like a candle, which, when it is exposed to the wind, flickers for an instant and goes out? Who acts: instant, candle. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 45

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Is it not like a candle, which, when it is exposed to the wind, flickers for an instant and goes out?

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**Who acts:** instant, candle · **What happens:** not be, expose, flicker, go out · **To what, where:** instant

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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 (instant, candle), 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:pg74064:16:47
# text = Is it not like a candle, which, when it is exposed to the wind, flickers for an instant and goes out?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	candle	candle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	exposed	expose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
18	flickers	flicker	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | instant |  |  |  |  | like a candle | tree rules |
| 2 | **expose** | present · passive |  | instant |  |  |  | to the wind; a candle *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **flicker** | present | a candle |  |  |  |  | for a instant | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **go out** | present | a candle *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=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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