--- title: Indeed, why should it be necessary to discuss the injurious effect o… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: Indeed, why should it be necessary to discuss the injurious effect on human beings of contact with the corrupt, when in times past even a senseless mango tree, with flavor as sweet as the flavor of celestial fruit, through contact with sour, unpalatable nimbs, turned sour and bitter?” Who acts: cont --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/144/) [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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/) / 144 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 9, sentence 144 Indeed, why should it be necessary to discuss the injurious effect on human beings of contact with the corrupt, when in times past even a senseless mango tree, with flavor as sweet as the flavor of celestial fruit, through contact with sour, unpalatable nimbs, turned sour and bitter?” **Who acts:** contact · **What happens:** be, discuss, turn, flavor · **To what, where:** injurious effect, human beings, celestial fruit This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (contact), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74064:9:153 # text = Indeed, why should it be necessary to discuss the injurious effect on human beings of contact with the corrupt, when in times past even a senseless mango tree, with flavor as sweet as the flavor of celestial fruit, through contact with sour, unpalatable nimbs, turned sour and bitter?” 1 Indeed indeed ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 7 advmod _ _ 4 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 5 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 expl _ _ 6 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 7 cop _ _ 7 necessary necessary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 discuss discuss VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 csubj _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 injurious injurious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 effect effect NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 13 on on ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 beings being NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nmod _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 contact contact NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ _ 18 with with ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 corrupt corrupt ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 22 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 51 advmod _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 51 obl _ _ 25 past past ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 26 even even ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 28 senseless senseless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 29 mango mango NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ _ 30 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 with with ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 flavor flavor NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 conj _ _ 34 as as ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 sweet sweet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 nmod _ _ 36 as as ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 flavor flavor NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 celestial celestial NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ _ 41 fruit fruit NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 through through ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 contact contact NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 conj _ _ 45 with with ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 46 sour sour ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 48 unpalatable unpalatable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 nimbs nimb NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 51 turned turn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 acl:relcl _ _ 52 sour sour ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 xcomp _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 54 cc _ _ 54 bitter bitter ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 55 ? ? PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 56 ” " PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | should | | | | | | indeed, necessary *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **discuss** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | | the injurious effect | | human beings of contact with the corrupt | | | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent effect=Topic | | 3 | **turn** | past | | | | | time | sour *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **be** | | contact with the corrupt | | | | | | nom being «state intransitive»: of=agent | | 5 | **flavor** | | | celestial fruit | | | | | nom flavor «state transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 143](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/143/) - next →: [sentence 145](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/145/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/9/)