---
title: So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the m… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute, and just as he got to the most touching part, the grass quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Who acts: tikki, mournful song, grass, Rikki tikki.
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 15, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute, and just as he got to the most touching part, the grass quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers.

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**Who acts:** tikki, mournful song, grass, Rikki tikki · **What happens:** sing, make up, get, touch, quiver, cover · **To what, where:** mournful song, spur, Rikki tikki, tikki, hole leg, whiskers

<!-- .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 (tikki, mournful song, grass, Rikki tikki), 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:pg236:15:77
# text = So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute, and just as he got to the most touching part, the grass quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	mournful	mournful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	spur	spur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	just	just	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
26	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	27	advmod	_	_
27	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	amod	_	_
28	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	quivered	quiver	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
33	again	again	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
36	Rikki	Rikki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	tikki	tikki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	acl	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	dirt	dirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
44	dragged	drag	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
45	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	44	obj	_	_
46	out	out	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	_
50	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
51	by	by	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
54	licking	lick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	44	advcl	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | tikki | a mournful song |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 2 | **make up** | past | a mournful song |  |  | the spur of the minute |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **get** | past | tikki |  |  |  |  | to the touching part *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to part=Result |
| 4 | **touch** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **quiver** | past | the grass |  |  |  | again |  | vn body\_internal\_states-40.6 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **cover** | participle |  | Rikki tikki *not said here* |  |  |  | with dirt | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with dirt=Theme |
| 7 | **drag** | past | Rikki tikki | tikki |  | the hole leg |  | by leg | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent himself=Theme out leg=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **lick** | gerund | Rikki tikki *not said here* | tikki's whiskers |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent whisker=Source |
| 9 | **spur** |  |  | the minute |  |  |  |  | nom spur «communication 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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