---
title: But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neit… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish; and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boys or little girls. Who acts: Mariner, that, whales. A sentence of «Just so sto
---

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# Just so stories, How the Whale Got His Throat, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish; and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boys or little girls.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Mariner, that, whales · **What happens:** cough up, swallow down, prevent, eat, be, not eat · **To what, where:** grating, Mariner, anything, reason, men

<!-- .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 (Mariner, that, whales), 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:pg2781:2:37
# text = But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish; and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boys or little girls.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
5	on	on	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	grating	grating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obj	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	cough	cough	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
18	up	up	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	20	cc	_	_
20	swallow	swallow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
21	down	down	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
23	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
26	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	25	obj	_	_
27	except	except	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	nsubj	_	_
36	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	parataxis	_	_
39	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	43	advmod	_	_
40	whales	whale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
41	nowadays	nowadays	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
42	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	parataxis	_	_
44	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	_
45	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	conj	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cough up** | could | Mariner | the grating in Mariner's throat |  |  |  | neither *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme |
| 2 | **swallow down** | infinitive | Mariner *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **prevent** | past |  | Mariner |  |  | day |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer he=Theme |
| 4 | **eat** | gerund |  | anything |  |  |  | small fish *obl* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient |
| 5 | **is a** | present | that | the reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **eat** | infinitive | whales | men or boys or little girls |  |  |  | nowadays *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |

<!-- .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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