---
title: One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elep… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants and threw up the loose end of a rope, which had dropped, to a driver who was trying to get a purchase on the leg of a kicking young calf (calves always give more trouble than full-grown animals). Who acts: Kya, driver, calves.
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 16, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants and threw up the loose end of a rope, which had dropped, to a driver who was trying to get a purchase on the leg of a kicking young calf (calves always give more trouble than full-grown animals).

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Kya, driver, calves · **What happens:** slide down, slip in, throw up, drop, try, get · **To what, where:** post, loose end, rope, driver, purchase, leg

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kya, driver, calves), 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:pg236:16:39
# text = One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants and threw up the loose end of a rope, which had dropped, to a driver who was trying to get a purchase on the leg of a kicking young calf (calves always give more trouble than full-grown animals).
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	slid	slide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	in	in	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	between	between	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	elephants	elephant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	loose	loose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	dropped	drop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	driver	driver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	acl:relcl	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	purchase	purchase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
44	kicking	kick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	46	amod	_	_
45	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
47	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	calves	calf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
49	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	50	advmod	_	_
50	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	acl:relcl	_	_
51	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	52	amod	_	_
52	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	than	than	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	amod	_	_
57	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slide down** | past | Kya |  |  | the post | night | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from post=Trajectory |
| 2 | **slip in** | past | Kya *not said here* |  |  |  |  | between the elephants | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **throw up** | past | Kya *not said here* | the loose end of a rope |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent end=Theme |
| 4 | **drop** | past · perfect · passive |  | a rope | a driver |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to driver=Destination |
| 5 | **try** | past · progressive | a driver |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a driver *not said here* | a purchase |  | the leg of a kicking young calf |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent purchase=Theme on leg=Source |
| 7 | **kick** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **give** | present | calves | more trouble |  |  |  | than grown animals; always *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trouble=Theme |
| 9 | **grow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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