Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 37

‘’Scuse me,’ said the Elephant’s Child most politely, ‘but my father has spanked me, my mother has spanked me, not to mention my tall aunt, the Ostrich, and my tall uncle, the Giraffe, who can kick ever so hard, as well as my broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my hairy uncle, the Baboon, and including the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake, with the scalesome, flailsome tail, just up the bank, who spanks harder than any of them; and so, if it’s quite all the same to you, I don’t want to be spanked any more.’

Who acts: father, tall uncle, bank, I, Coloured Python Rock Snake · What happens: scuse, say, spank, not mention, kick, include · To what, where: me, hairy uncle, mother, tall aunt, broad aunt, Coloured Python Rock Snake · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, tall uncle, bank, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher. This tree is Mova's own parse (the en model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

The tree

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	‘’	‘'	PUNCT	_	2 Scuse	punct
2	Scuse	scuse	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 said	ccomp
3	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	2 Scuse	obj
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 Scuse	punct
5	’	'	PUNCT	_	2 Scuse	punct
6	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Elephant	det
8	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 Child	nmod:poss
9	’s	's	PART	_	8 Elephant	case
10	Child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 said	ccomp
11	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	12 politely	advmod
12	politely	politely	ADV	_	10 Child	advmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 spanked	punct
14	‘	'	PUNCT	_	19 spanked	punct
15	but	but	CCONJ	_	19 spanked	cc
16	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 father	nmod:poss
17	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 spanked	nsubj
18	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	19 spanked	aux
19	spanked	spank	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 said	conj
20	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	19 spanked	obj
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	25 spanked	punct
22	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 mother	nmod:poss
23	mother	mother	NOUN	Number=Sing	25 spanked	nsubj:pass
24	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	25 spanked	aux
25	spanked	spank	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 spanked	conj
26	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	25 spanked	obj
27	,	,	PUNCT	_	30 mention	punct
28	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	30 mention	advmod
29	to	to	PART	_	30 mention	mark
30	mention	mention	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	25 spanked	conj
31	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	33 aunt	nmod:poss
32	tall	tall	ADJ	Degree=Pos	33 aunt	amod
33	aunt	aunt	NOUN	Number=Sing	30 mention	obj
34	,	,	PUNCT	_	36 Ostrich	punct
35	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	36 Ostrich	det
36	Ostrich	Ostrich	PROPN	Number=Sing	33 aunt	appos
37	,	,	PUNCT	_	48 kick	punct
38	and	and	CCONJ	_	48 kick	cc
39	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	41 uncle	nmod:poss
40	tall	tall	ADJ	Degree=Pos	41 uncle	amod
41	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	48 kick	nsubj
42	,	,	PUNCT	_	44 Giraffe	punct
43	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	44 Giraffe	det
44	Giraffe	Giraffe	PROPN	Number=Sing	41 uncle	appos
45	,	,	PUNCT	_	48 kick	punct
46	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	48 kick	nsubj
47	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	48 kick	aux
48	kick	kick	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 said	parataxis
49	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	48 kick	advmod
50	so	so	ADV	_	51 hard	advmod
51	hard	hard	ADV	Degree=Pos	48 kick	advmod
52	,	,	PUNCT	_	58 aunt	punct
53	as	as	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	58 aunt	cc
54	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	53 as	fixed
55	as	as	ADP	_	53 as	fixed
56	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	58 aunt	nmod:poss
57	broad	broad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	58 aunt	amod
58	aunt	aunt	NOUN	Number=Sing	48 kick	obl
59	,	,	PUNCT	_	61 Hippopotamus	punct
60	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	61 Hippopotamus	det
61	Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus	PROPN	Number=Sing	58 aunt	appos
62	,	,	PUNCT	_	66 uncle	punct
63	and	and	CCONJ	_	66 uncle	cc
64	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	66 uncle	nmod:poss
65	hairy	hairy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	66 uncle	amod
66	uncle	uncle	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 said	obl
67	,	,	PUNCT	_	69 Baboon	punct
68	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	69 Baboon	det
69	Baboon	Baboon	PROPN	Number=Sing	66 uncle	appos
70	,	,	PUNCT	_	82 Snake	punct
71	and	and	CCONJ	_	82 Snake	cc
72	including	include	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	82 Snake	case
73	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	82 Snake	det
74	Bi	bi	ADJ	Degree=Pos	76 Coloured	amod
75	-	-	PUNCT	_	74 Bi	punct
76	Coloured	coloured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	82 Snake	amod
77	-	-	PUNCT	_	76 Coloured	punct
78	Python	python	NOUN	Number=Sing	82 Snake	compound
79	-	-	PUNCT	_	80 Rock	punct
80	Rock	rock	NOUN	Number=Sing	82 Snake	compound
81	-	-	PUNCT	_	80 Rock	punct
82	Snake	snake	NOUN	Number=Sing	66 uncle	conj
83	,	,	PUNCT	_	86 scalesome	punct
84	with	with	ADP	_	86 scalesome	case
85	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	86 scalesome	det
86	scalesome	scalesome	NOUN	Number=Sing	82 Snake	conj
87	,	,	PUNCT	_	89 tail	punct
88	flailsome	flailsome	ADJ	Degree=Pos	89 tail	amod
89	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	86 scalesome	appos
90	,	,	PUNCT	_	94 bank	punct
91	just	just	ADV	_	94 bank	advmod
92	up	up	ADP	_	94 bank	case
93	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	94 bank	det
94	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	86 scalesome	appos
95	,	,	PUNCT	_	97 spanks	punct
96	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	97 spanks	nsubj
97	spanks	spank	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	94 bank	acl:relcl
98	harder	hard	ADV	Degree=Cmp	97 spanks	advmod
99	than	than	ADP	_	100 any	case
100	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	98 harder	obl
101	of	of	ADP	_	102 them	case
102	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	100 any	nmod
103	;	;	PUNCT	_	105 so	punct
104	and	and	CCONJ	_	105 so	cc
105	so	so	ADV	_	120 want	advmod
106	,	,	PUNCT	_	109 ’s	punct
107	if	if	SCONJ	_	109 ’s	mark
108	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	109 ’s	nsubj
109	’s	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	120 want	advcl
110	quite	quite	ADV	_	111 all	advmod
111	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	113 same	det:predet
112	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	113 same	det
113	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	109 ’s	obj
114	to	to	ADP	_	115 you	case
115	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	109 ’s	obl
116	,	,	PUNCT	_	120 want	punct
117	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	120 want	nsubj
118	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	120 want	aux
119	n’t	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	120 want	advmod
120	want	want	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	82 Snake	acl:relcl
121	to	to	PART	_	123 spanked	mark
122	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	123 spanked	aux:pass
123	spanked	spank	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	120 want	xcomp
124	any	any	ADV	_	125 more	advmod
125	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	123 spanked	advmod
126	.	.	PUNCT	_	120 want	punct
127	’	'	PUNCT	_	120 want	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	scuse	infinitive		me			tree rules
2	say speech: assert	past		my hairy uncle and the Coloured Python Rock Snake and the scalesome			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	spank	present · perfect	my father	me			vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient
4	spank	present · perfect · passive		my mother			vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient i=Result
5	not mention speech: other	to-infinitive		my tall aunt			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent aunt=Topic
6	kick	can	my tall uncle	my broad aunt	ever	hard property	vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient
7	include	gerund					vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
8	spank	present	the bank			hard property	vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
9	not want	present · do-support	I	the Coloured Python Rock Snake and the scalesome not said here			tree rules
10	spank not said to happen	to-infinitive · passive	the Coloured Python Rock Snake and the scalesome not said here				vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»

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: «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 2781 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/37/