---
title: Suppose I were to put poison in the porridge, let that fellow eat it… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Suppose I were to put poison in the porridge, let that fellow eat it, cause his death, and get the spoils for myself alone!” Who acts: you, I, fellow. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 8, sentence 135

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Suppose I were to put poison in the porridge, let that fellow eat it, cause his death, and get the spoils for myself alone!”

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**Who acts:** you, I, fellow · **What happens:** suppose, put, let, eat, get, spoil · **To what, where:** poison, porridge · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, fellow), 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:pg74064:8:137
# text = Suppose I were to put poison in the porridge, let that fellow eat it, cause his death, and get the spoils for myself alone!”
1	Suppose	suppose	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	ccomp	_	_
6	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	porridge	porridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
12	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	cause	cause	SCONJ	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	spoils	spoil	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	24	obl	_	_
27	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **put** | past | I | poison |  | the porridge |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent poison=Theme in porridge=Destination |
| 3 | **let** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | cause fellow's death | tree rules |
| 4 | **eat** | present | that fellow | poison |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 5 | **get** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **spoil** | present | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for myself; alone *property* | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **die** |  | fellow |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=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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