--- title: But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner, who was indeed a… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner, who was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his jack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running criss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders (_now_, you know why you were not to forget th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/2/31/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Just so stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/) / [How the Whale Got His Throat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/2/) / 31 # Just so stories, How the Whale Got His Throat, sentence 31 But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner, who was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his jack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running criss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders (\_now\_, you know why you were not to forget the suspenders!), and he dragged that grating good and tight into the Whale’s throat, and there it stuck! **Who acts:** Whale, Mariner, little square, you, square · **What happens:** swim, be, take, cut up, grate, run · **To what, where:** person, Mariner, raft, running criss cross, Whale, suspenders · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, Mariner, little square, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2781:2:31 # text = But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner, who was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his jack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running criss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders (_now_, you know why you were not to forget the suspenders!), and he dragged that grating good and tight into the Whale’s throat, and there it stuck! 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 2 while while SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 Whale whale NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 5 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 6 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 aux _ _ 7 swimming swim VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 27 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 Mariner Mariner PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 12 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 16 nsubj _ _ 13 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 cop _ _ 14 indeed indeed ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 person person NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 appos _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 infinite infinite ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 resource resource NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 23 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 sagacity sagacity NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 26 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 28 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 29 jack jack NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 cut cut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 conj _ _ 34 up up ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 raft raft NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 37 into into ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 square square NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 41 grating grate VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 33 obl _ _ 42 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 46 det _ _ 43 running run VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 46 amod _ _ 44 criss criss NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 45 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 cross cross NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 51 cc _ _ 49 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj:pass _ _ 50 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 aux _ _ 51 tied tie VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 parataxis _ _ 52 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 obj _ _ 53 firm firm ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 xcomp _ _ 54 with with ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 55 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 56 nmod:poss _ _ 56 suspenders suspender NOUN NNS Number=Plur 53 obl _ _ 57 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 58 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 58 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 51 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 59 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 27 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 60 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 63 punct _ _ 62 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 63 nsubj _ _ 63 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 parataxis _ _ 64 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 69 advmod _ _ 65 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 69 nsubj _ _ 66 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 69 aux _ _ 67 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 69 advmod _ _ 68 to to PART TO _ 69 mark _ _ 69 forget forget VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 63 ccomp _ _ 70 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 71 det _ _ 71 suspenders suspender NOUN NNS Number=Plur 69 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 72 ! ! PUNCT . _ 69 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 73 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 69 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 74 , , PUNCT , _ 77 punct _ _ 75 and and CCONJ CC _ 77 cc _ _ 76 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 77 nsubj _ _ 77 dragged drag VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 63 parataxis _ _ 78 that that SCONJ IN _ 79 mark _ _ 79 grating grate VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 77 advcl _ _ 80 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 79 xcomp _ _ 81 and and CCONJ CC _ 82 cc _ _ 82 tight tight ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 80 conj _ _ 83 into into ADP IN _ 87 case _ _ 84 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 85 det _ _ 85 Whale whale NOUN NN Number=Sing 87 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 86 ’s 's PART POS _ 85 case _ _ 87 throat throat NOUN NN Number=Sing 79 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 88 , , PUNCT , _ 92 punct _ _ 89 and and CCONJ CC _ 92 cc _ _ 90 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 92 expl _ _ 91 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 92 nsubj _ _ 92 stuck stick VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 77 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 93 ! ! PUNCT . _ 27 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **swim** | past · perfect · progressive | the Whale | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **is a** | past | the Mariner | a person | | | | of infinite resource and sagacity; indeed *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **take** | past · perfect · passive | | the Mariner | | | now | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme knife=Destination | | 4 | **cut up** | participle | | the raft | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset raft=Product | | 5 | **grate** | gerund | a little square | all running criss cross | | | | | vn appeal-31.4-1 «NP V NP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus cross=Experiencer | | 6 | **run** | gerund | | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **tie** | past · perfect · passive | | Whale | | | | firm *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient it=Result | | 8 | **know** | present | you | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 9 | **not** **forget** | past | you | the suspenders | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **drag** | past | Whale | | | | | | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent | | 11 | **grate** | gerund | Whale *not said here* | | | the Whale's throat | | good *property* | vn appeal-31.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus | | 12 | **stick** | past | square | | | there | | | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/2/30/) - next →: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/2/32/) - ↑ back to [How the Whale Got His Throat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/2/)