---
title: They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great f… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great forest, ‘sclusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows, and there they hid: and after another long time, what with standing half in the shade and half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidy shad
---

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# Just so stories, How the Leopard Got His Spots, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great forest, ‘sclusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows, and there they hid: and after another long time, what with standing half in the shade and half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidy shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew stripy, and the Eland and the Koodoo grew darker, with little wavy grey lines on their backs like bark on a tree trunk; and so, though you could hear them and smell them, you could very seldom see them, and then only when you knew precisely where to look.

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**Who acts:** Giraffe, trees, Zebra, Eland, you · **What happens:** scuttle, come, hide, stand, fall, grow · **To what, where:** great forest, half, shade, Giraffe, trees

<!-- .vabout -->
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, trees, Zebra, Eland), 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:pg2781:5:9
# text = They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great forest, ‘sclusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows, and there they hid: and after another long time, what with standing half in the shade and half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidy shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew stripy, and the Eland and the Koodoo grew darker, with little wavy grey lines on their backs like bark on a tree trunk; and so, though you could hear them and smell them, you could very seldom see them, and then only when you knew precisely where to look.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	scuttled	scuttle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
9	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	sclusively	sclusively	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	bushes	bush	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
25	stripy	stripy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	speckly	speckly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
29	patchy	patchy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	blatchy	blatchy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	37	expl	_	_
36	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	75	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	75	cc	_	_
40	after	after	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	43	det	_	_
42	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	75	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	43	conj	_	_
46	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
47	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	advcl	_	_
48	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	47	obj	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	shade	shade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	51	conj	_	_
54	out	out	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	45	conj	_	_
60	with	with	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
62	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	62	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	slidy	slidy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nmod	_	_
66	of	of	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	nmod	_	_
69	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	68	acl	_	_
70	on	on	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
71	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
73	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
74	Giraffe	Giraffe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	75	nsubj	_	_
75	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
76	blotchy	blotchy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	75	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	81	punct	_	_
78	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	81	cc	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	Zebra	Zebra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	81	nsubj	_	_
81	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	75	conj	_	_
82	stripy	stripy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	81	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	90	punct	_	_
84	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	90	cc	_	_
85	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	86	det	_	_
86	Eland	Eland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	90	nsubj	_	_
87	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	89	cc	_	_
88	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	89	det	_	_
89	Koodoo	Koodoo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	86	conj	_	_
90	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	75	conj	_	_
91	darker	dark	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	90	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
92	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	97	punct	_	_
93	with	with	ADP	IN	_	97	case	_	_
94	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	97	amod	_	_
95	wavy	wavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	97	amod	_	_
96	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	97	amod	_	_
97	lines	line	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	90	obl	_	_
98	on	on	ADP	IN	_	100	case	_	_
99	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	100	nmod:poss	_	_
100	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	97	nmod	_	_
101	like	like	ADP	IN	_	102	case	_	_
102	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	100	nmod	_	_
103	on	on	ADP	IN	_	106	case	_	_
104	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	106	det	_	_
105	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	106	compound	_	_
106	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	102	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
107	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	109	punct	_	_
108	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	109	cc	_	_
109	so	so	ADV	RB	_	114	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
110	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	114	punct	_	_
111	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	114	mark	_	_
112	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	114	nsubj	_	_
113	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	114	aux	_	_
114	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
115	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	114	obj	_	_
116	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	117	cc	_	_
117	smell	smell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	114	conj	_	_
118	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	117	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
119	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	124	punct	_	_
120	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	124	nsubj	_	_
121	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	124	aux	_	_
122	very	very	ADV	RB	_	123	advmod	_	_
123	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	124	advmod	_	_
124	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	114	conj	_	_
125	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	124	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
126	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	132	punct	_	_
127	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	132	cc	_	_
128	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	132	advmod	_	_
129	only	only	ADV	RB	_	132	advmod	_	_
130	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	132	advmod	_	_
131	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	132	nsubj	_	_
132	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
133	precisely	precisely	ADV	RB	_	132	advmod	_	_
134	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	136	advmod	_	_
135	to	to	PART	TO	_	136	mark	_	_
136	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	132	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
137	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scuttle** | past | Giraffe |  |  |  | day |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **come** | past | Giraffe |  |  | a great forest |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to forest=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **hide** | past | Giraffe |  |  | there |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **stand** | gerund | the Giraffe *not said here* | half |  | the shade and half out half |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent half=Theme in shade=Destination |
| 5 | **fall** | gerund | the trees *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on Giraffe | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on they=Location |
| 6 | **grow** | past | the Giraffe |  |  |  | time | blotchy *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **grow** | past | the Zebra |  |  |  |  | stripy *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **grow** | past | the Eland and the Koodoo |  |  |  |  | with little wavy grey lines on Giraffe's backs like bark on a tree trunk; dark *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **hear** | could | you | Giraffe |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 10 | **smell** | infinitive | you *not said here* | Giraffe |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 11 | **see** | could | you | Giraffe |  |  |  | seldom *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 12 | **know** | past | you |  |  |  | then | precisely *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 13 | **look** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 14 | **shadow** |  |  | the trees |  |  |  |  | nom shadow «state transitive»: of=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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