---
title: But you must not commit the folly of entering Pātāla, for by destroy… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: But you must not commit the folly of entering Pātāla, for by destroying utterly the whole race of the snakes, you will only defeat your own purpose.” Who acts: you, folly, snakes, your. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 83

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But you must not commit the folly of entering Pātāla, for by destroying utterly the whole race of the snakes, you will only defeat your own purpose.”

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**Who acts:** you, folly, snakes, your · **What happens:** not commit, enter, destroy, defeat, race, purpose · **To what, where:** folly, Pātāla, whole race, own purpose

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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 (you, folly, snakes, your), 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:pg74064:16:86
# text = But you must not commit the folly of entering Pātāla, for by destroying utterly the whole race of the snakes, you will only defeat your own purpose.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	commit	commit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	folly	folly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	entering	enter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	Pātāla	Pātāla	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	destroying	destroy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
15	utterly	utterly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	only	only	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	defeat	defeat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
27	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **commit** | must | you | the folly |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent folly=Theme |
| 2 | **enter** | gerund | the folly *not said here* |  | Pātāla |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme pātāla=Destination |
| 3 | **destroy** | gerund | you *not said here* | the whole race of the snakes |  |  |  | utterly *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent race=Patient |
| 4 | **defeat** | future | you | your own purpose |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **race** |  | the snakes |  |  |  |  |  | nom race «event intransitive»: of=agent |
| 6 | **purpose** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: 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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