---
title: They only grunt, and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They only grunt, and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get down into the muddy pools one after another, and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface, and then they lie like logs. Who acts: cattle, buffaloes, blue eyes. A sentence 
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/8/86/)

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 8, sentence 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They only grunt, and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get down into the muddy pools one after another, and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface, and then they lie like logs.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cattle, buffaloes, blue eyes · **What happens:** grunt, say, get down, work, till, stare · **To what, where:** anything, muddy pools, way, noses, mud, surface · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cattle, buffaloes, blue eyes), 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:pg236:8:86
# text = They only grunt, and the buffaloes very seldom say anything, but get down into the muddy pools one after another, and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring china-blue eyes show above the surface, and then they lie like logs.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	grunt	grunt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	buffaloes	buffalo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
11	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
15	down	down	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	muddy	muddy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	pools	pool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nmod	_	_
21	after	after	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
31	till	till	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
32	only	only	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	noses	nose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	staring	stare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	conj	_	_
37	china	china	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nsubj	_	_
41	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	ccomp	_	_
42	above	above	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	_
48	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	lie	lie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
50	like	like	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	logs	log	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grunt** | present | cattle |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | the buffaloes | anything |  |  |  | seldom *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **get down** | infinitive | the buffaloes *not said here* |  |  | the muddy pools  one after another |  | down *property* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **work** | infinitive |  | cattle's way |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent way=Material |
| 5 | **till** | present |  | cattle's noses |  | the mud |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **stare** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **show** | present | blue eyes |  |  | the surface |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **lie** | present | cattle |  |  |  | then | like logs | vn assuming\_position-50 «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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