---
title: From the body of this lion of a man, my stomach would not be able to… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: From the body of this lion of a man, my stomach would not be able to digest a fragment of flesh even so small as a kidney bean. Who acts: stomach. 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 52

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From the body of this lion of a man, my stomach would not be able to digest a fragment of flesh even so small as a kidney bean.

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**Who acts:** stomach · **What happens:** not be, digest · **To what, where:** body, fragment

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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 (stomach), 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:pg74064:8:52
# text = From the body of this lion of a man, my stomach would not be able to digest a fragment of flesh even so small as a kidney bean.
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	stomach	stomach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	digest	digest	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	fragment	fragment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	even	even	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	kidney	kidney	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	bean	bean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | would | my stomach |  |  | the body of this lion of a man |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **digest** | to-infinitive | my stomach *not said here* | a fragment of flesh |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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