---
title: “What I want to know,” said the young mule, who had been quiet for a… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “What I want to know,” said the young mule, who had been quiet for a long time--“what I want to know is, why we have to fight at all.” Who acts: I, young mule. A sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 20, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“What I want to know,” said the young mule, who had been quiet for a long time--“what I want to know is, why we have to fight at all.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, young mule · **What happens:** want, know, say, be, have, fight · **To what, where:** young mule, all · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, young mule), 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:pg236:20:74
# text = “What I want to know,” said the young mule, who had been quiet for a long time--“what I want to know is, why we have to fight at all.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
17	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	acl:relcl	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	obl	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
32	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** | past · perfect | the young mule |  |  |  | time | quiet *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the young mule |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **want** *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 7 | **know** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **have** *in a quote* | present | the young mule |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **fight** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the young mule *not said here* |  |  | all |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=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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