---
title: She tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl and drew it acr… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: She tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl and drew it across the floor, and the Cat ran after it and patted it with his paws and rolled head over heels, and tossed it backward over his shoulder and chased it between his hind-legs and pretended to lose it, and pounced down upon it again, t
---

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# Just so stories, The Cat That Walked By Himself, sentence 117

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl and drew it across the floor, and the Cat ran after it and patted it with his paws and rolled head over heels, and tossed it backward over his shoulder and chased it between his hind-legs and pretended to lose it, and pounced down upon it again, till the Baby laughed as loudly as it had been crying, and scrambled after the Cat and frolicked all over the Cave till it grew tired and settled down to sleep with the Cat in its arms.

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**Who acts:** Woman, Cat, Baby, thread · **What happens:** tie, draw, run, pat, roll, toss · **To what, where:** thread, floor, shoulder, hind legs, Cave, arms

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Cat That Walked By Himself. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Woman, Cat, Baby, thread), 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:pg2781:12:117
# text = She tied the thread to the little clay spindle whorl and drew it across the floor, and the Cat ran after it and patted it with his paws and rolled head over heels, and tossed it backward over his shoulder and chased it between his hind-legs and pretended to lose it, and pounced down upon it again, till the Baby laughed as loudly as it had been crying, and scrambled after the Cat and frolicked all over the Cave till it grew tired and settled down to sleep with the Cat in its arms.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
8	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
9	spindle	spindle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	whorl	whorl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	across	across	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
22	after	after	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	patted	pat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	amod	_	_
32	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
33	over	over	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	tossed	toss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
40	over	over	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	chased	chase	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	between	between	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
48	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	xcomp	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	pounced	pounce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
59	down	down	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obl	_	_
62	again	again	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
64	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	67	mark	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	Baby	Baby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	67	nsubj	_	_
67	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	parataxis	_	_
68	as	as	ADV	RB	_	69	advmod	_	_
69	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	67	advmod	_	_
70	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	74	mark	_	_
71	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj	_	_
72	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	74	aux	_	_
73	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	74	aux	_	_
74	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	67	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
76	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	77	cc	_	_
77	scrambled	scramble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	conj	_	_
78	after	after	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	obl	_	_
81	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	82	cc	_	_
82	frolicked	frolic	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	77	conj	_	_
83	all	all	ADV	RB	_	86	advmod	_	_
84	over	over	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
85	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	86	det	_	_
86	Cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	82	obj	_	_
87	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	89	mark	_	_
88	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	89	nsubj	_	_
89	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	82	advcl	_	_
90	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	89	xcomp	_	_
91	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	92	cc	_	_
92	settled	settle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	89	conj	_	_
93	down	down	ADV	RB	_	92	advmod	_	_
94	to	to	PART	TO	_	95	mark	_	_
95	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	92	advcl	_	_
96	with	with	ADP	IN	_	98	case	_	_
97	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	98	det	_	_
98	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	95	obl	_	_
99	in	in	ADP	IN	_	101	case	_	_
100	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	101	nmod:poss	_	_
101	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	95	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
102	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie** | past | Woman | the thread |  |  |  | to the little clay spindle whorl | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent thread=Patient to whorl=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **draw** | past | Woman *not said here* | thread |  | the floor |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **run** | past | the Cat |  |  |  | after floor |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **pat** | past | the Cat *not said here* | thread |  |  |  | with Cat's paws and rolled head over heels | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Theme with paw=Instrument |
| 5 | **roll** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **toss** | past | Woman *not said here* | thread |  | Cat's shoulder |  | backward *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme over shoulder=Destination |
| 7 | **chase** | past | Woman *not said here* | thread |  | Cat's hind legs |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme between leg=Trajectory |
| 8 | **pretend** | past | Woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **lose** | to-infinitive | Woman *not said here* | thread |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 10 | **pounce down** | past | Woman *not said here* |  |  | floor | again | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon it=Trajectory |
| 11 | **laugh** | past | the Baby |  |  |  |  | loudly *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **cry** *speech: express* | past · perfect · progressive | thread |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 13 | **scramble** | past | the Baby *not said here* |  |  |  | after the Cat |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 14 | **frolic** | past | the Baby *not said here* | the Cave |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location cave=Theme |
| 15 | **grow** | past | thread |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 16 | **settle down** | past | thread *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 17 | **sleep** | to-infinitive | thread *not said here* |  |  | thread's arms |  | with the Cat | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in arm=Location |

<!-- .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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