---
title: “It may be because these people are afraid of me that they refrain f… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: “It may be because these people are afraid of me that they refrain from mentioning faults in me and speak only of my good qualities.” Who acts: fault, people. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 7, sentence 98

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“It may be because these people are afraid of me that they refrain from mentioning faults in me and speak only of my good qualities.”

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**Who acts:** fault, people · **What happens:** be, refrain, mention, speak · **To what, where:** faults · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fault, people), 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:pg74064:7:103
# text = “It may be because these people are afraid of me that they refrain from mentioning faults in me and speak only of my good qualities.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
3	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	refrain	refrain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
15	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
16	mentioning	mention	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
17	faults	fault	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
22	only	only	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
25	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	qualities	quality	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | may | fault |  |  |  |  | of place; this people *nsubj*; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **refrain** *in a quote* | present | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn refrain-69 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mention** *speech: other* *in a quote* | gerund | people *not said here* | faults |  |  |  | in place | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent fault=Topic |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of my good qualities | vn talk-37.5 «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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