---
title: ‘Little sister,’ said Balkis, ‘you are quite right; but next time he… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Little sister,’ said Balkis, ‘you are quite right; but next time he begins to boast, take him at his word. Who acts: Little sister, you, husband. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Butterfly That Stamped, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Just so stories, The Butterfly That Stamped, sentence 82

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‘Little sister,’ said Balkis, ‘you are quite right; but next time he begins to boast, take him at his word.

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**Who acts:** Little sister, you, husband · **What happens:** say, be, begin, boast, take, word · **To what, where:** husband, word · **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 (Little sister, you, husband), 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:pg2781:13:82
# text = ‘Little sister,’ said Balkis, ‘you are quite right; but next time he begins to boast, take him at his word.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Balkis	Balkis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	begins	begin	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	boast	boast	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Little sister |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | you |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **begin** | present | husband |  |  |  | time |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **boast** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | husband *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **take** | infinitive | husband *not said here* | husband |  | husband's word |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Theme at word=Asset |
| 6 | **word** |  | husband |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=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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