---
title: But I am poor, possessed of meagre wealth, scanty means of enjoyment… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: But I am poor, possessed of meagre wealth, scanty means of enjoyment, a small army, few vehicles, a little kingdom, and unfilled treasuries and storehouses. Who acts: I, scanty. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 5, sentence 155

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But I am poor, possessed of meagre wealth, scanty means of enjoyment, a small army, few vehicles, a little kingdom, and unfilled treasuries and storehouses.

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**Who acts:** I, scanty · **What happens:** be, possess, mean

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, scanty), 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:pg74064:5:161
# text = But I am poor, possessed of meagre wealth, scanty means of enjoyment, a small army, few vehicles, a little kingdom, and unfilled treasuries and storehouses.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	meagre	meagre	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	wealth	wealth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	scanty	scanty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	enjoyment	enjoyment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	vehicles	vehicle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	unfilled	unfilled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	treasuries	treasury	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	appos	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	storehouses	storehouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | unfilled treasuries and storehouses *appos*; poor *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **possess** | participle | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of meagre wealth | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **mean** | present | scanty |  |  |  |  | of enjoyment and a small army and few vehicles and a little kingdom | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: 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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