---
title: “We’re taught to obey the man at our head: step off when he says so,… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “We’re taught to obey the man at our head: step off when he says so, and step in when he says so. Who acts: We, man. A sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 19, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 19, sentence 55

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“We’re taught to obey the man at our head: step off when he says so, and step in when he says so.

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**Who acts:** We, man · **What happens:** teach, obey, step off, say, step in · **To what, where:** We, man, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg236:19:55
# text = “We’re taught to obey the man at our head: step off when he says so, and step in when he says so.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’re	're	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
13	step	step	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	step	step	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	parataxis	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past · passive |  | We |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **obey** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | We *not said here* | the man |  | our head |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme |
| 3 | **step off** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **step in** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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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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