---
title: So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something breat… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something breathing sniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through the branches, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra, and when he knocked it down it kicked like Zebra, but he couldn’t see it. Who act
---

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# Just so stories, How the Leopard Got His Spots, sentence 43

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So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something breathing sniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through the branches, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra, and when he knocked it down it kicked like Zebra, but he couldn’t see it.

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**Who acts:** Giraffe, Leopard, starlight, Zebra, hunting · **What happens:** wait, hear, breathe, fall, jump, smelt · **To what, where:** something, starlight, noise, hunting

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the Leopard Got His Spots. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Giraffe, Leopard, starlight, Zebra), 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:pg2781:5:43
# text = So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something breathing sniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through the branches, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra, and when he knocked it down it kicked like Zebra, but he couldn’t see it.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	till	till	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Leopard	Leopard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	obj	_	_
13	breathing	breathe	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	sniffily	sniffily	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	starlight	starlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	all	all	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	stripy	stripy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	_
22	through	through	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	smelt	smelt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
36	like	like	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	Zebra	Zebra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
42	like	like	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	Zebra	Zebra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
46	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	48	advmod	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	advcl	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	down	down	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	kicked	kick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
53	like	like	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	Zebra	Zebra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
56	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
58	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
60	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
61	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past | Giraffe |  |  |  | till dark |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **hear** | past | the Leopard | something |  |  | then |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus |
| 3 | **breathe** | gerund |  |  |  | the starlight |  | sniffily *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fall** | past | the starlight |  |  |  |  | stripy *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **jump** | past | Zebra |  |  | the noise |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at noise=Trajectory |
| 6 | **smelt** | past | hunting |  |  |  |  | like Zebra | tree rules |
| 7 | **feel** | past | hunting |  |  |  |  | like Zebra | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V S»: agent=Agent like zebra=Theme |
| 8 | **knock down** | past | Zebra | hunting |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 9 | **kick** | past | hunting |  |  |  |  | like Zebra | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 10 | **not** **see** | could | Zebra | hunting |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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