Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 99
He pulled out his tall Ostrich aunt’s tail-feathers; and he caught his tall uncle, the Giraffe, by the hind-leg, and dragged him through a thorn-bush; and he shouted at his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, and blew bubbles into her ear when she was sleeping in the water after meals; but he never let any one touch Kolokolo Bird.
Who acts: Child, aunt · What happens: pull out, catch, drag, shout, blow, sleep · To what, where: tail feathers, tall uncle, Child, thorn bush, bubbles, ear
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 (Child, aunt), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 pulled | nsubj |
| 2 | pulled | pull | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | out | out | ADP | _ | 2 pulled | compound:prt |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 aunt | nmod:poss |
| 5 | tall | tall | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 aunt | amod |
| 6 | Ostrich | ostrich | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 aunt | compound |
| 7 | aunt | aunt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 feathers | nmod:poss |
| 8 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 7 aunt | case |
| 9 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 feathers | compound |
| 10 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 9 tail | punct |
| 11 | feathers | feather | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 pulled | obj |
| 12 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 15 caught | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 caught | cc |
| 14 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 caught | nsubj |
| 15 | caught | catch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 pulled | parataxis |
| 16 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 uncle | nmod:poss |
| 17 | tall | tall | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 uncle | amod |
| 18 | uncle | uncle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 caught | obj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 Giraffe | punct |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 Giraffe | det |
| 21 | Giraffe | Giraffe | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 uncle | appos |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 leg | punct |
| 23 | by | by | ADP | _ | 27 leg | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 leg | det |
| 25 | hind | hind | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 leg | amod |
| 26 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 25 hind | punct |
| 27 | leg | leg | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 caught | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 dragged | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 dragged | cc |
| 30 | dragged | drag | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 caught | conj |
| 31 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 dragged | obj |
| 32 | through | through | ADP | _ | 36 bush | case |
| 33 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 36 bush | det |
| 34 | thorn | thorn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 bush | compound |
| 35 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 34 thorn | punct |
| 36 | bush | bush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 dragged | obl |
| 37 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 40 shouted | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 shouted | cc |
| 39 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 shouted | nsubj |
| 40 | shouted | shout | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 pulled | parataxis |
| 41 | at | at | ADP | _ | 44 aunt | case |
| 42 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 aunt | nmod:poss |
| 43 | broad | broad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 aunt | amod |
| 44 | aunt | aunt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 shouted | obl |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 Hippopotamus | punct |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 Hippopotamus | det |
| 47 | Hippopotamus | Hippopotamus | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 aunt | appos |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 blew | punct |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 blew | cc |
| 50 | blew | blow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 shouted | conj |
| 51 | bubbles | bubble | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 blew | obj |
| 52 | into | into | ADP | _ | 54 ear | case |
| 53 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 54 ear | nmod:poss |
| 54 | ear | ear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 blew | obl |
| 55 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 58 sleeping | advmod |
| 56 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 58 sleeping | nsubj |
| 57 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 58 sleeping | aux |
| 58 | sleeping | sleep | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 50 blew | advcl |
| 59 | in | in | ADP | _ | 61 water | case |
| 60 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 61 water | det |
| 61 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 58 sleeping | obl |
| 62 | after | after | ADP | _ | 63 meals | case |
| 63 | meals | meal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 58 sleeping | obl |
| 64 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 68 let | punct |
| 65 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 68 let | cc |
| 66 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 68 let | nsubj |
| 67 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 68 let | advmod |
| 68 | let | let | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 pulled | conj |
| 69 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 71 touch | det |
| 70 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 71 touch | nummod |
| 71 | touch | touch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 68 let | obj |
| 72 | Kolokolo | Kolokolo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 71 touch | appos |
| 73 | Bird | Bird | PROPN | Number=Sing | 72 Kolokolo | flat |
| 74 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 pulled | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pull out | past | Child | Child's tall Ostrich aunt's tail feathers | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | catch | past | Child | Child's tall uncle | by the hind leg | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent uncle=Theme | |||
| 3 | drag | past | Child not said here | Child | a thorn bush | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | |||
| 4 | shout speech: express | past | Child | at Child's broad aunt | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | blow | past | Child not said here | bubbles | aunt's ear | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent bubble=Material into ear=Product | |||
| 6 | sleep | past · progressive | aunt | the water | after meals | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in water=Location | |||
| 7 | not let | past | Child | any one touch | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent touch=Theme |
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/pg2781/6/99/