---
title: The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss, and Mowgli kicked up… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss, and Mowgli kicked up his feet behind, clapped his hands together to applaud himself, and jumped on to Bagheera’s back, where he sat sideways, drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and making the worst faces he could think of at Baloo. Who acts: ans
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 4, sentence 52

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The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss, and Mowgli kicked up his feet behind, clapped his hands together to applaud himself, and jumped on to Bagheera’s back, where he sat sideways, drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and making the worst faces he could think of at Baloo.

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**Who acts:** answer, Mowgli · **What happens:** be, kick up, clap, applaud, jump on, sit · **To what, where:** indescribable hiss, feet, hands, Mowgli, glossy skin, worst faces

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This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (answer, Mowgli), 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:pg236:4:52
# text = The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss, and Mowgli kicked up his feet behind, clapped his hands together to applaud himself, and jumped on to Bagheera’s back, where he sat sideways, drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and making the worst faces he could think of at Baloo.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	indescribable	indescribable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	hiss	hiss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	Mowgli	Mowgli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	kicked	kick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
15	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	clapped	clap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	together	together	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	applaud	applaud	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
23	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	Bagheera	Bagheera	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	35	advmod	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
36	sideways	sideways	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	drumming	drum	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	glossy	glossy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	conj	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	50	amod	_	_
50	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
51	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	obl	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	at	at	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	Baloo	Baloo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the answer | a indescribable hiss |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **kick up** | past | Mowgli | Mowgli's feet |  |  |  | behind *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent foot=Patient |
| 3 | **clap** | past | Mowgli *not said here* | Mowgli's hands |  |  |  | together *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hand=Theme |
| 4 | **applaud** | to-infinitive | Mowgli *not said here* | Mowgli |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer himself=Stimulus |
| 5 | **jump on** | past | Mowgli *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to Bagheera's back *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to back=Result |
| 6 | **sit** | past | Mowgli |  |  |  |  | sideways *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **drum** | gerund | Mowgli *not said here* |  |  | the glossy skin |  | with Bagheera's heels | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP PP»: agent=Agent with heel=Instrument |
| 8 | **make** | gerund | Mowgli *not said here* | the worst faces |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset face=Product |
| 9 | **think** *speech: other* | could | Mowgli |  |  |  |  | of Baloo | vn focus-87.1-1 «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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