---
title: The Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and Suleiman-bin… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: The Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and Suleiman-bin-Daoud laughed so much that it was several minutes before he found breath enough to whisper to the Butterfly, ‘Stamp again, little brother. Who acts: Suleiman, garden. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Butterfl
---

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# Just so stories, The Butterfly That Stamped, sentence 121

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The Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and Suleiman-bin-Daoud laughed so much that it was several minutes before he found breath enough to whisper to the Butterfly, ‘Stamp again, little brother.

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**Who acts:** Suleiman, garden · **What happens:** frighten, laugh, be, find, whisper · **To what, where:** Butterfly, several minutes, breath · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Butterfly That Stamped. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Suleiman, garden), 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:pg2781:13:121
# text = The Butterfly was nearly as frightened as his wife, and Suleiman-bin-Daoud laughed so much that it was several minutes before he found breath enough to whisper to the Butterfly, ‘Stamp again, little brother.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Butterfly	Butterfly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
4	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
12	Suleiman	Suleiman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	bin	bin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	Daoud	Daoud	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	_
17	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	much	much	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl:unmarked	_	_
25	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
28	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
29	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	whisper	whisper	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Butterfly	Butterfly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Stamp	stamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	appos	_	_
38	again	again	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | the Butterfly |  |  |  | as Butterfly's wife | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **laugh** | past | Suleiman |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | garden | several minutes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **find** | past | Suleiman | breath |  |  |  | enough *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent breath=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 5 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  | the Butterfly |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to butterfly=Recipient |

<!-- .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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