---
title: And Father Wolf taught him his business, and the meaning of things i… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And Father Wolf taught him his business, and the meaning of things in the jungle, till every rustle in the grass, every breath of the warm night air, every note of the owls above his head, every scratch of a bat’s claws as it roosted for a while in a tree, and every splash of every little fish jumpi
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 2, sentence 54

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Father Wolf taught him his business, and the meaning of things in the jungle, till every rustle in the grass, every breath of the warm night air, every note of the owls above his head, every scratch of a bat’s claws as it roosted for a while in a tree, and every splash of every little fish jumping in a pool meant just as much to him as the work of his office means to a business man.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Father Wolf, little fish, splash, work, office · **What happens:** teach, roost, jump, mean, note, scratch · **To what, where:** business, Mowgli, tree, pool, much, things

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father Wolf, little fish, splash, work), 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:pg236:2:54
# text = And Father Wolf taught him his business, and the meaning of things in the jungle, till every rustle in the grass, every breath of the warm night air, every note of the owls above his head, every scratch of a bat’s claws as it roosted for a while in a tree, and every splash of every little fish jumping in a pool meant just as much to him as the work of his office means to a business man.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	Wolf	Wolf	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	jungle	jungle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	till	till	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
20	rustle	rustle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	det	_	_
26	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	det	_	_
34	note	note	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	_
38	above	above	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	43	det	_	_
43	scratch	scratch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	bat	bat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	’s	's	PART	POS	_	46	case	_	_
48	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj:pass	_	_
51	roosted	roost	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
55	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
60	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	61	det	_	_
61	splash	splash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	nsubj	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	65	det	_	_
64	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod	_	_
66	jumping	jump	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	65	acl	_	_
67	in	in	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
69	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	obl	_	_
70	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
71	just	just	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
72	as	as	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
73	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	70	obj	_	_
74	to	to	ADP	IN	_	75	case	_	_
75	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	nmod	_	_
76	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	82	mark	_	_
77	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	78	det	_	_
78	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	82	nsubj	_	_
79	of	of	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
80	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	81	nmod:poss	_	_
81	office	office	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	78	nmod	_	_
82	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	73	advcl	_	_
83	to	to	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
84	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	86	det	_	_
85	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	86	compound	_	_
86	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	82	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
87	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | past | Father Wolf | Mowgli's business | Mowgli |  |  | the meaning of things in the jungle *obl* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient business=Topic |
| 2 | **roost** | participle · passive |  | business |  | a tree | while |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **jump** | gerund | every little fish *not said here* |  |  | a pool |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in pool=Trajectory |
| 4 | **mean** | past | every splash of every little fish | much |  |  |  | to Mowgli | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot much=Theme to he=Attribute |
| 5 | **mean** | present | the work of Mowgli's office |  |  |  |  | to a business man | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot to man=Attribute |
| 6 | **mean** |  |  | things in the jungle |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **note** |  |  | the owls above Mowgli's head |  |  |  |  | nom note «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **scratch** |  |  | a bat's claws |  |  |  |  | nom scratch «state transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **splash** |  | every little fish |  |  |  |  |  | nom splash «event intransitive»: of=agent |
| 10 | **work** |  | Mowgli's office |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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