---
title: He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard. Who acts: Nag, mongooses. A sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 13, sentence 118

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He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard.

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**Who acts:** Nag, mongooses · **What happens:** know, mean, want, get · **To what, where:** Rikki tikki · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, mongooses), 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:pg236:13:118
# text = He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	mongooses	mongoose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
9	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	10	conj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	Rikki	Rikki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	tikki	tikki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	off	off	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Nag |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **mean** | past | mongooses in the garden |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **want** | past | Nag |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Nag *not said here* | Rikki tikki |  |  |  | off Nag's guard | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tikki=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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