--- title: If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what would I do?’ Who acts: you, I, sho, it. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the Alphabet Was Made, wi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/10/142/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Just so stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/) / [How the Alphabet Was Made](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/10/) / 142 # Just so stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, sentence 142 If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what would I do?’ **Who acts:** you, I, sho, it · **What happens:** draw, think, mean, come in, find, be · **To what, where:** snake, dinner, wood, two hides, drying poles · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (you, I, sho, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2781:10:142 # text = If you drew the snake and egg, and I thought it meant dinner, and I came in from the wood and found that it meant I was to help Mummy hang the two hides on the drying-poles, what would I do?’ 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 2 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 drew draw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 advcl _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 egg egg NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 10 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 meant mean VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 ccomp _ _ 14 dinner dinner NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ _ 19 in in ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 20 from from ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 conj _ _ 25 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 meant mean VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 ccomp _ _ 28 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 29 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 help help VERB VB Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 ccomp _ _ 32 Mummy Mummy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 33 hang hang VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 xcomp _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 35 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 36 nummod _ _ 36 hides hide NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obj _ _ 37 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 39 drying drying NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 poles pole NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 43 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 46 obj _ _ 44 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 45 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 46 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ? ? PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **draw** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | the snake and egg | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snake=Theme | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 3 | **mean** | past | sho | dinner | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinner=Topic | | 4 | **come in** | past | I | | | the wood | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from wood=Initial\_Location | | 5 | **find** | past | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 6 | **mean** | past | it | | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | I | | | | | help *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **hang** *not said to happen* | infinitive | I *not said here* | the two hides | | the drying poles | | | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hide=Theme on pole=Destination | | 9 | **do** | would | I | the drying poles | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 141](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/10/141/) - next →: [sentence 143](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/10/143/) - ↑ back to [How the Alphabet Was Made](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/10/)