---
title: Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearl… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders (which you _must_ not forget), _and_ the jack-knife--He swallowed them all down into his 
---

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# Just so stories, How the Whale Got His Throat, sentence 16

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Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders (which you \_must\_ not forget), \_and\_ the jack-knife--He swallowed them all down into his warm, dark, inside cup-boards, and then he smacked his lips--so, and turned round three times on his tail.

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**Who acts:** Whale, mouth, raft, suspenders · **What happens:** open, touch, swallow, shipwreck, sit on, not \_ · **To what, where:** mouth, tail, shipwrecked Mariner, blue canvas breeches, raft, lips

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the Whale Got His Throat. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Whale, mouth, raft, suspenders), 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:pg2781:2:16
# text = Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders (which you _must_ not forget), _and_ the jack-knife--He swallowed them all down into his warm, dark, inside cup-boards, and then he smacked his lips--so, and turned round three times on his tail.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	back	back	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advcl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	back	back	ADV	RB	_	9	conj	_	_
12	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	shipwrecked	shipwreck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	amod	_	_
24	Mariner	Mariner	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	raft	raft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
36	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	canvas	canvas	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	breeches	breech	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	suspenders	suspender	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
43	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	48	nsubj	_	_
45	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
46	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	_	_	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	acl:relcl	_	_
49	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	48	advmod	_	_
50	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
53	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	59	punct	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
57	jack	jack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
62	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	parataxis	_	_
63	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	obj	_	_
64	all	all	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
65	down	down	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
66	into	into	ADP	IN	_	75	case	_	_
67	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	75	nmod:poss	_	_
68	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	75	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	68	punct	_	_
70	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	75	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
72	inside	inside	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	75	amod	_	_
73	cup	cup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	75	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	73	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	boards	board	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	80	punct	_	_
77	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	80	cc	_	_
78	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	80	advmod	_	_
79	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	80	nsubj	_	_
80	smacked	smack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	parataxis	_	_
81	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	82	nmod:poss	_	_
82	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	80	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	87	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	so	so	ADV	RB	_	87	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
85	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	87	punct	_	_
86	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	87	cc	_	_
87	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	80	conj	_	_
88	round	round	ADV	RB	_	89	advmod	_	_
89	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	90	nummod	_	_
90	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	87	obl:unmarked	_	_
91	on	on	ADP	IN	_	93	case	_	_
92	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	93	nmod:poss	_	_
93	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	87	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
94	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | past | the Whale | Whale's mouth |  |  | then |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mouth=Theme |
| 2 | **touch** | past | mouth | Whale's tail |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme tail=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **swallow** | past | Whale | the shipwrecked Mariner |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mariner=Patient |
| 4 | **shipwreck** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sit on** | past · progressive | the raft | Whale's blue canvas breeches |  |  |  | the suspenders *obl* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **\_** | must | the suspenders |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **forget** | infinitive | the suspenders *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **swallow** | past | Whale | raft |  |  |  | down *property* | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 9 | **smack** | past | Whale | Whale's lips |  |  | then |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lip=Patient |
| 10 | **turn round** | past | Whale *not said here* |  |  | Whale's tail | time |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme on tail=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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