---
title: Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked ou… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak river, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bingtang, as though it had been pulled by a string. Who acts: sea, string. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipli
---

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# Just so stories, The Crab That Played With the Sea, sentence 42

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Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak river, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bingtang, as though it had been pulled by a string.

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**Who acts:** sea, string · **What happens:** begin, run back, suck out, pull · **To what, where:** canoe, mouth

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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 (sea, string), 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:pg2781:11:42
# text = Then the sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak river, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bingtang, as though it had been pulled by a string.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	sucked	suck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	Perak	Perak	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	past	past	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Selangor	Selangor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	past	past	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	Malacca	Malacca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	past	past	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Singapore	Singapore	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	out	out	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	out	out	ADV	RB	_	34	conj	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	Island	Island	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Bingtang	Bingtang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
43	as	as	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
44	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	48	aux:pass	_	_
48	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
49	by	by	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the sea |  |  |  | then | past Singapore; to the Island of Bingtang | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **run back** | to-infinitive | the sea *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **suck out** | past · passive |  | the canoe |  | the mouth of the Perak river |  | past Selangor; past Malacca | tree rules |
| 4 | **pull** | past · perfect · passive | a string | canoe |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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