---
title: “By the Bull that bought me,” said Mowgli, who was trying to get at… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “By the Bull that bought me,” said Mowgli, who was trying to get at the shoulder, “must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon? Who acts: Bull, Mowgli, I. A sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 9, sentence 99

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“By the Bull that bought me,” said Mowgli, who was trying to get at the shoulder, “must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Bull, Mowgli, I · **What happens:** buy, say, try, get, stay, babble · **To what, where:** me, shoulder, old ape · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Bull, Mowgli, I), 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:pg236:9:99
# text = “By the Bull that bought me,” said Mowgli, who was trying to get at the shoulder, “must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon?
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	By	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Bull	bull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	Mowgli	Mowgli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
26	babbling	babble	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	xcomp	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	ape	ape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	det	_	_
32	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **buy** *in a quote* | past | the Bull |  | me |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  | by the Bull | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **try** | past · progressive | Mowgli |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Mowgli *not said here* |  |  | the shoulder |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **stay** *in a quote* | must | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **babble** *in a quote* | gerund | I *not said here* |  | a old ape |  | noon |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to ape=Recipient |

<!-- .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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