---
title: Now, while the two were talking together, Pau Amma the Crab, who was… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, while the two were talking together, Pau Amma the Crab, who was next in the game, scuttled off sideways and stepped into the sea, saying to himself, ‘I will play my play alone in the deep waters, and I will never be obedient to this son of Adam.’ Who acts: two, Pau, I, my. A sentence of «Just s
---

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# Just so stories, The Crab That Played With the Sea, sentence 12

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Now, while the two were talking together, Pau Amma the Crab, who was next in the game, scuttled off sideways and stepped into the sea, saying to himself, ‘I will play my play alone in the deep waters, and I will never be obedient to this son of Adam.’

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**Who acts:** two, Pau, I, my · **What happens:** talk, be, scuttle off, step, say, play · **To what, where:** game, sea, Pau, play, deep waters · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Crab That Played With the Sea. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two, Pau, I, my), 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:pg2781:11:12
# text = Now, while the two were talking together, Pau Amma the Crab, who was next in the game, scuttled off sideways and stepped into the sea, saying to himself, ‘I will play my play alone in the deep waters, and I will never be obedient to this son of Adam.’
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	advcl	_	_
8	together	together	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
10	Pau	Pau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
11	Amma	Amma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	flat	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
17	next	next	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	scuttled	scuttle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	sideways	sideways	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
27	into	into	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
39	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	play	play	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
48	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
49	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
50	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	cop	_	_
52	obedient	obedient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	conj	_	_
53	to	to	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	55	det	_	_
55	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	Adam	Adam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past · progressive | the two |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | Pau |  |  | the game |  | next *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **scuttle off** | participle | Pau |  |  |  | now | sideways *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **step** | past | Pau *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into sea=Destination |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Pau *not said here* |  | Pau |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |
| 6 | **play** | future | I | my play |  | the deep waters |  | alone *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent play=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **is** | future | I |  |  |  |  | to this son of Adam; obedient *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **play** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom play «communication intransitive»: poss=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:** «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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