---
title: The power of flying through the air is mentioned in the oldest texts… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: The power of flying through the air is mentioned in the oldest texts as one of the several varieties of magical power which may be acquired by the Practice of Meditation. Who acts: power, Practice. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 2, with its dependenc
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 2, sentence 138

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The power of flying through the air is mentioned in the oldest texts as one of the several varieties of magical power which may be acquired by the Practice of Meditation.

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**Who acts:** power, Practice · **What happens:** fly, mention, acquire, practice · **To what, where:** air, power, oldest texts, magical power, Meditation

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (power, Practice), 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:pg74064:2:142
# text = The power of flying through the air is mentioned in the oldest texts as one of the several varieties of magical power which may be acquired by the Practice of Meditation.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	mentioned	mention	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	texts	text	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
14	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	varieties	variety	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	magical	magical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	acquired	acquire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	Practice	practice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	Meditation	Meditation	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | gerund | the power *not said here* |  |  | the air |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through air=Location |
| 2 | **mention** *speech: other* | present · passive |  | the power |  | the oldest texts |  | as one of the several varieties of magical power | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **acquire** | may · passive | the Practice of Meditation | magical power |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset subject=Theme |
| 4 | **practice** |  |  | Meditation |  |  |  |  | nom practice «act 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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