---
title: ‘I think, said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘I think, said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like this--‘I think to-day I will begin with Elephant’s Child!’ Who acts: I, Crocodile. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 43

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‘I think, said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like this--‘I think to-day I will begin with Elephant’s Child!’

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**Who acts:** I, Crocodile · **What happens:** think, say, begin · **To what, where:** head · **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 (I, Crocodile), 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:pg2781:6:43
# text = ‘I think, said the Crocodile--and he said it between his teeth, like this--‘I think to-day I will begin with Elephant’s Child!’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Crocodile	Crocodile	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	between	between	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	like	like	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’s	's	PART	POS	_	30	case	_	_
32	Child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Crocodile |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Crocodile | head |  |  |  | between Crocodile's teeth; like this | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | present | I |  |  |  | day |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **begin** | future | I |  |  |  |  | with Elephant's Child | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with child=Subeventuality |

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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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