---
title: You would do well to be careful about attacking me, for with an arro… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: You would do well to be careful about attacking me, for with an arrow steeped in poison will I pierce your flesh and fell you on the spot!” Who acts: You, I. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/8/10/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/8/) / 10

# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 8, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You would do well to be careful about attacking me, for with an arrow steeped in poison will I pierce your flesh and fell you on the spot!”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** You, I · **What happens:** do, be, attack, steep, pierce, fall · **To what, where:** me, flesh, you, spot

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 8. 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), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74064:8:10
# text = You would do well to be careful about attacking me, for with an arrow steeped in poison will I pierce your flesh and fell you on the spot!”
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
7	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
8	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	attacking	attack	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
16	steeped	steep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
19	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	pierce	pierce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
22	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | would | You |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **attack** | gerund | You *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 4 | **steep** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for a arrow; in poison | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V PP.result PP.instrument»: agent=Patient in poison=Instrument |
| 5 | **pierce** | future | I | your flesh |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flesh=Patient |
| 6 | **fall** | past |  | you |  | the spot |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient you=Result |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/8/9/)
- next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/8/11/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/8/)