---
title: When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stay… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake’s eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of. Who acts: Nag, eyes, snak
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 13, sentence 108

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When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake’s eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of.

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**Who acts:** Nag, eyes, snake · **What happens:** lift, stay, balance, look, not change, think · **To what, where:** one third, expression, whatever

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This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nag, eyes, snake), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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 {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg236:13:108
# text = When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake’s eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lifted	lift	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	third	third	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	nmod	_	_
10	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	balancing	balance	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	xcomp	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	fixed	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
20	fro	fro	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	dandelion	dandelion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	tuft	tuft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	balances	balance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	Rikki	Rikki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	tikki	tikki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	’s	's	PART	POS	_	41	case	_	_
43	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	_
44	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	nsubj	_	_
45	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	change	change	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
47	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
50	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	55	obj	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
53	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	aux	_	_
55	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	48	conj	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lift** | past · perfect | Nag | one third of Nag |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent third=Theme |
| 2 | **stay** | past | Nag |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **balance** | gerund | Nag *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **look** | past | Nag |  |  |  |  | at Rikki tikki with the wicked snake's eyes | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at tikki=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **change** | present | the wicked snake's eyes | eyes's expression |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent expression=Patient |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | may · progressive | the snake | whatever |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot whatever=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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 Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 236 (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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