---
title: Taffy, dear, I’ve a notion that your Daddy’s daughter has hit upon t… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Taffy, dear, I’ve a notion that your Daddy’s daughter has hit upon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai took to using shark’s teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads. Who acts: Taffy, daughter, Tribe. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the Alphab
---

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# Just so stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, sentence 105

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Taffy, dear, I’ve a notion that your Daddy’s daughter has hit upon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai took to using shark’s teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads.

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**Who acts:** Taffy, daughter, Tribe · **What happens:** have, hit, take, use · **To what, where:** notion, finest thing, teeth

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the Alphabet Was Made. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Taffy, daughter, Tribe), 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:pg2781:10:105
# text = Taffy, dear, I’ve a notion that your Daddy’s daughter has hit upon the finest thing that there ever was since the Tribe of Tegumai took to using shark’s teeth instead of flints for their spear-heads.
1	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’ve	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	notion	notion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
10	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
11	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	hit	hit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
16	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	finest	fine	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	amod	_	_
19	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obj	_	_
21	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	23	expl	_	_
22	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	23	advmod	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Tribe	Tribe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Tegumai	Tegumai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
29	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
30	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	using	use	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	_
32	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’s	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
35	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	37	case	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	fixed	_	_
37	flints	flint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
38	for	for	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
39	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
40	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Taffy | a notion |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notion=Patient |
| 2 | **hit** | present · perfect | your daughter | a notion |  | the finest thing |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent that=Theme upon thing=Destination |
| 3 | **take** | past | the Tribe of Tegumai |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **use** | gerund | the Tribe of Tegumai *not said here* | shark's teeth |  |  |  | instead flints; for flints's spear heads | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent tooth=Theme for head=Eventuality |

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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:** «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 2781 (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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