---
title: He was afraid for the minute, but it is impossible for a mongoose to… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was afraid for the minute, but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose’s business in life was to fight and eat snakes. Who acts: 
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 13, sentence 114

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was afraid for the minute, but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose’s business in life was to fight and eat snakes.

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**Who acts:** Tikki, Rikki tikki, business · **What happens:** be, stay, frighten, not meet, feed, know · **To what, where:** live cobra, mother, snakes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Tikki, Rikki tikki, business), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg236:13:114
# text = He was afraid for the minute, but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose’s business in life was to fight and eat snakes.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	expl	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	mongoose	mongoose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
17	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	xcomp	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
20	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
25	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
26	Rikki	Rikki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	tikki	tikki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	met	meet	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	live	live	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	cobra	cobra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
35	before	before	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	fed	feed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
49	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
50	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	51	det:predet	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	amod	_	_
53	mongoose	mongoose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	’s	's	PART	POS	_	53	case	_	_
55	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nsubj	_	_
56	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	cop	_	_
59	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
60	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	ccomp	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	conj	_	_
63	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Tikki |  |  |  | minute | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | Tikki *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a mongoose; impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **stay** | to-infinitive | Tikki *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **frighten** | participle | Tikki *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for any length of time | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **meet** | past · perfect | Rikki tikki | a live cobra |  |  |  | before *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cobra=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **feed** | past · perfect · passive |  | Tikki's mother |  |  |  | on dead ones | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Theme |
| 7 | **know** | past | Tikki |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **grow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | a grown mongoose's business in life |  |  |  |  | fight *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **eat** | infinitive | a grown mongoose's business in life *not said here* | snakes |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snake=Patient |

<!-- .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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