---
title: The head was lying a little clear of the water jar, under the curve… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The head was lying a little clear of the water jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head. Who acts: head, teeth, Rikki. A sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 14, with its
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 14, sentence 88

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The head was lying a little clear of the water jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** head, teeth, Rikki · **What happens:** lie, meet, brace, hold down, clear · **To what, where:** little clear, curve, back, head, water jar

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (head, teeth, Rikki), 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:pg236:14:88
# text = The head was lying a little clear of the water jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	clear	clear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	jar	jar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	under	under	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	curve	curve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
24	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	Rikki	Rikki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	braced	brace	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	against	against	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	bulge	bulge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	earthenware	earthenware	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl	_	_
39	down	down	ADP	RP	_	38	compound:prt	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past · progressive | the head | a little clear of the water jar |  | the curve of curve |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location clear=Theme |
| 2 | **meet** | past | tikki's teeth |  |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **brace** | past | Rikki | tikki's back |  |  |  | against the bulge of the red earthenware | tree rules |
| 4 | **hold down** | to-infinitive | Rikki *not said here* | the head |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 5 | **clear** |  |  | the water jar |  |  |  |  | nom clear «state 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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