---
title: Of course if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and call u… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Of course if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and call up the Djinns and the Afrits they would have magicked all those nine hundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into white mules of the desert or greyhounds or pomegranate seeds; but Suleiman-bin-Daoud thought that that would be showi
---

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# Just so stories, The Butterfly That Stamped, sentence 37

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Of course if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and call up the Djinns and the Afrits they would have magicked all those nine hundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into white mules of the desert or greyhounds or pomegranate seeds; but Suleiman-bin-Daoud thought that that would be showing off.

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**Who acts:** part, Suleiman, that · **What happens:** choose, turn, call up, magick, think, show off · **To what, where:** ring, finger, Djinns, Afrits

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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 (part, Suleiman, that), 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:pg2781:13:37
# text = Of course if he had chosen to turn his ring on his finger and call up the Djinns and the Afrits they would have magicked all those nine hundred and ninety-nine quarrelsome wives into white mules of the desert or greyhounds or pomegranate seeds; but Suleiman-bin-Daoud thought that that would be showing off.
1	Of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Djinns	Djinn	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Afrits	afrit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux	_	_
25	magicked	magick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	29	det:predet	_	_
27	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
28	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	compound	_	_
29	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	ninety	ninety	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
34	quarrelsome	quarrelsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
36	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	mules	mule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	greyhounds	greyhound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	_
44	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	pomegranate	pomegranate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	_
46	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	54	punct	_	_
48	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
49	Suleiman	Suleiman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	bin	bin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	51	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	Daoud	Daoud	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	flat	_	_
54	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
55	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
56	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	59	nsubj	_	_
57	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
58	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	aux	_	_
59	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	54	advcl	_	_
60	off	off	ADP	RP	_	59	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past · perfect | part |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **turn** | to-infinitive | part *not said here* | part's ring |  | part's finger |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ring=Theme |
| 3 | **call up** *speech: assert* | infinitive | part *not said here* |  | the Djinns |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent djinn=Recipient |
| 4 | **magick** | would · perfect · passive |  | the Afrits |  |  |  | into white mules of the desert or greyhounds or pomegranate seeds; hundred nine quarrelsome wives *obl* | tree rules |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Suleiman |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **show off** | would · progressive | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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