---
title: He was ten years old, the eldest son of Big Toomai, and, according t… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was ten years old, the eldest son of Big Toomai, and, according to custom, he would take his father’s place on Kala Nag’s neck when he grew up, and would handle the heavy iron ankus, the elephant goad, that had been worn smooth by his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. Who ac
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/15/140/)

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 15, sentence 140

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was ten years old, the eldest son of Big Toomai, and, according to custom, he would take his father’s place on Kala Nag’s neck when he grew up, and would handle the heavy iron ankus, the elephant goad, that had been worn smooth by his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather.

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**Who acts:** grandson, father · **What happens:** be, accord, take, grow up, handle, wear · **To what, where:** place, neck, grandfather, heavy iron ankus

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grandson, father), 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:pg236:15:140
# text = He was ten years old, the eldest son of Big Toomai, and, according to custom, he would take his father’s place on Kala Nag’s neck when he grew up, and would handle the heavy iron ankus, the elephant goad, that had been worn smooth by his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Big	Big	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	Toomai	Toomai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	case	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	fixed	_	_
18	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’s	's	PART	POS	_	24	case	_	_
26	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	Kala	Kala	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	_
29	Nag	Nag	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
31	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
32	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	parataxis	_	_
35	up	up	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	handle	handle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
41	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	_
43	ankus	ankus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	_
47	goad	goad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	_
50	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	aux:pass	_	_
52	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	acl	_	_
53	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	xcomp	_	_
54	by	by	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
59	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
63	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	66	nmod:poss	_	_
64	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | grandson |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **take** | would | grandson | grandson's father's place |  | Kala's neck |  | accord custom | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent place=Theme on neck=Destination |
| 4 | **grow up** | past | grandson | grandson's grandfather |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **handle** | would | grandson *not said here* | the heavy iron ankus and the elephant goad |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ankus=Theme |
| 6 | **wear** | past · perfect · passive | grandson's father | the heavy iron ankus and the elephant goad |  |  |  | smooth *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent subject=Source |

<!-- .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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