--- title: And the Elephant’s Child’s nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: And the Elephant’s Child’s nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant’s Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant’s Ch --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/50/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Just so stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/) / [The Elephant’s Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/) / 50 # Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 50 And the Elephant’s Child’s nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant’s Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant’s Child’s nose grew longer and longer--and it hurt him hijjus! **Who acts:** Child, Crocodile, pull, nose · **What happens:** keep, stretch, spread, pull, thresh, grow · **To what, where:** nose, little four legs, tail, Crocodile 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 (Child, Crocodile, pull, nose), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2781:6:50 # text = And the Elephant’s Child’s nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant’s Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant’s Child’s nose grew longer and longer--and it hurt him hijjus! 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Elephant Elephant PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ’s 's PART POS _ 3 case _ _ 5 Child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ’s 's PART POS _ 5 case _ _ 7 nose nose NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj:pass _ _ 8 kept keep VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 9 on on SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 10 stretching stretch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ; ; PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 Elephant Elephant PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ’s 's PART POS _ 14 case _ _ 16 Child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 17 spread spread VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 18 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 22 det:predet _ _ 19 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 20 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 21 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 22 nummod _ _ 22 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 pulled pull VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 pulled pull VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 pulled pull VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 33 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 nose nose NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 kept keep VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 8 parataxis _ _ 36 on on SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 37 stretching stretch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 35 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 ; ; PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 Crocodile Crocodile PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ _ 42 threshed thresh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 43 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ _ 45 like like ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 oar oar NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 51 cc _ _ 50 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj _ _ 51 pulled pull VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 54 cc _ _ 54 pulled pull VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 55 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 56 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 57 pulled pull VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 58 , , PUNCT , _ 69 punct _ _ 59 and and CCONJ CC _ 69 cc _ _ 60 at at ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 62 det _ _ 62 pull pull NOUN NN Number=Sing 69 nsubj _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 64 Elephant Elephant PROPN NNP Number=Sing 66 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 65 ’s 's PART POS _ 64 case _ _ 66 Child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 67 ’s 's PART POS _ 66 case _ _ 68 nose nose NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 nmod _ _ 69 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 70 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 69 advmod _ _ 71 and and CCONJ CC _ 72 cc _ _ 72 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 70 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 73 -- -- PUNCT , _ 76 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 74 and and CCONJ CC _ 76 cc _ _ 75 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 76 nsubj _ _ 76 hurt hurt VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 69 conj _ _ 77 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 76 obj _ _ 78 hijjus hijjus ADV RB _ 76 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 79 ! ! PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **keep** | participle · passive | | the Elephant's Child's nose | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **stretch** | gerund | | | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **spread** | past | the Elephant's Child | Child's little four legs | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location leg=Theme | | 4 | **pull** | past | the Elephant's Child *not said here* | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **pull** | past | the Elephant's Child *not said here* | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **pull** | past | the Elephant's Child *not said here* | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **keep** | participle · passive | | Child's nose | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 8 | **stretch** | gerund | | | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 9 | **thresh** | past | the Crocodile | Crocodile's tail | | | | like a oar | tree rules | | 10 | **pull** | past | Crocodile | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 11 | **pull** | past | | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 12 | **pull** | past | | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 13 | **grow** | past | each pull the Elephant's Child's nose | | | | | long *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 14 | **hurt** | past | nose | Crocodile | | | | hijjus *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/49/) - next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/51/) - ↑ back to [The Elephant’s Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/)