---
title: Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old Fish… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old Fisherman’s line as fast as it is made, and the Eldest Magician said to him, ‘Ho! Who acts: Rat, Moon, Eldest Magician. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Crab That Played With the Sea, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Just so stories, The Crab That Played With the Sea, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old Fisherman’s line as fast as it is made, and the Eldest Magician said to him, ‘Ho!

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**Who acts:** Rat, Moon, Eldest Magician · **What happens:** be up, bite, make, say · **To what, where:** Moon, line, Fisherman · **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 (Rat, Moon, Eldest Magician), 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:pg2781:11:50
# text = Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old Fisherman’s line as fast as it is made, and the Eldest Magician said to him, ‘Ho!
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	ccomp	_	_
4	also	also	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
13	bites	bite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	Fisherman	Fisherman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	29	amod	_	_
29	Magician	Magician	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	Ho	Ho	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	35	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be up** | present | a Rat |  |  | the Moon; there | now |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in moon=Location |
| 2 | **bite** | present | the Moon | the old Fisherman's line |  |  |  | always, fast *property* | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent line=Patient |
| 3 | **make** | present · passive |  | line |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Eldest Magician |  | Fisherman |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to he=Experiencer clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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