---
title: He understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bow… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: He understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in towards each other and groaned; and he understood what the trees said when they rustled in the middle of the morning. Who acts: Suleiman, rocks, trees. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Butterfly That Sta
---

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# Just so stories, The Butterfly That Stamped, sentence 9

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He understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in towards each other and groaned; and he understood what the trees said when they rustled in the middle of the morning.

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**Who acts:** Suleiman, rocks, trees · **What happens:** understand, say, bow, groan, rustle · **To what, where:** each, middle · **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, rocks, trees), 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:pg2781:13:9
# text = He understood what the rocks said deep under the earth when they bowed in towards each other and groaned; and he understood what the trees said when they rustled in the middle of the morning.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
8	under	under	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	bowed	bow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	13	obl	_	_
17	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	fixed	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	groaned	groan	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	obj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
28	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	rustled	rustle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | past | Suleiman |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the rocks |  |  |  |  | deep *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 3 | **bow** | past | rocks *= rock* |  |  | each |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in each=Location |
| 4 | **groan** | past | rocks *= rock* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **understand** | past | Suleiman |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the trees |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **rustle** | past | trees *= tree* |  |  | the middle of the morning |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in middle=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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