---
title: ‘That is odd,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘because my father and my… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘That is odd,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘because my father and my mother, and my uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my other uncle, the Baboon, have all spanked me for my ‘satiable curtiosity--and I suppose this is the same thing. Who acts: That, father, other u
---

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# Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 30

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‘That is odd,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘because my father and my mother, and my uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my other uncle, the Baboon, have all spanked me for my ‘satiable curtiosity--and I suppose this is the same thing.

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**Who acts:** That, father, other uncle, I · **What happens:** be, say, not mention, spank, suppose · **To what, where:** Child, other aunt, me, this, same thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (That, father, other uncle, I), 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:pg2781:6:30
# text = ‘That is odd,’ said the Elephant’s Child, ‘because my father and my mother, and my uncle and my aunt, not to mention my other aunt, the Hippopotamus, and my other uncle, the Baboon, have all spanked me for my ‘satiable curtiosity--and I suppose this is the same thing.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	Child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
13	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	63	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nsubj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nsubj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	aunt	aunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	mention	mention	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	aunt	aunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
39	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
40	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	Baboon	Baboon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
46	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	all	all	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	spanked	spank	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	parataxis	_	_
49	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
51	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
52	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	satiable	satiable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	curtiosity	curtiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
57	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	conj	_	_
59	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	58	obj	_	_
60	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	63	cop	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | That |  |  |  |  | odd *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the Elephant's Child and the same thing |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent child=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **mention** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | my father and my mother *not said here* | my other aunt |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent aunt=Topic |
| 4 | **spank** | present · perfect | my other uncle | me |  |  |  | for my satiable curtiosity; all *property* | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 5 | **suppose** | present | I | this |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent this=Attribute |
| 6 | **is a** | present | my father and my mother | the same thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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