---
title: He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongo… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return stroke of the cobra. Who acts: Tikki, time. A sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jun
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 13, sentence 129

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He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return stroke of the cobra.

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**Who acts:** Tikki, time · **What happens:** come down, know, be, break, stroke · **To what, where:** back, Tikki, time, cobra · **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 (Tikki, time), 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:pg236:13:129
# text = He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return stroke of the cobra.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	across	across	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux:pass	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	mongoose	mongoose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux	_	_
20	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	bite	bite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
34	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
37	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
40	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
41	lashing	lashing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	_
42	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	_
43	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	cobra	cobra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | past | Tikki |  |  | wife's back |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme across back=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | would · past · perfect · passive |  | Tikki |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the time |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **break** | to-infinitive | the time | wife's back |  |  |  | with one bite | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent back=Patient with bite=Instrument |
| 5 | **is** | past | Tikki |  |  |  |  | of the terrible return stroke of the cobra; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **stroke** |  |  | the cobra |  |  |  |  | nom stroke «act transitive»: of=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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