---
title: You gave me my life; I give you this elephant by way of paying the f… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: You gave me my life; I give you this elephant by way of paying the fee which I owe to my physicians. Who acts: You, I, way. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 3, sentence 42

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You gave me my life; I give you this elephant by way of paying the fee which I owe to my physicians.

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**Who acts:** You, I, way · **What happens:** give, pay, owe · **To what, where:** life, me, elephant, you, fee, physicians

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (You, I, way), 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:pg74064:3:44
# text = You gave me my life; I give you this elephant by way of paying the fee which I owe to my physicians.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fee	fee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obj	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	owe	owe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	physicians	physician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | You | my life | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient life=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | present | I | this elephant | you |  |  | by way | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient elephant=Theme |
| 3 | **pay** | gerund | way *not said here* | the fee |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fee=Asset |
| 4 | **owe** | present | I | the fee |  |  |  | to my physicians *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent which=Theme to physician=Goal |

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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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