--- title: Then the Elephant’s Child sat down most hard and sudden; but first h… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: Then the Elephant’s Child sat down most hard and sudden; but first he was careful to say ‘Thank you’ to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake; and next he was kind to his poor pulled nose, and wrapped it all up in cool banana leaves, and hung it in the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo to cool. Who acts: --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/55/) [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/) / 55 # Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 55 Then the Elephant’s Child sat down most hard and sudden; but first he was careful to say ‘Thank you’ to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake; and next he was kind to his poor pulled nose, and wrapped it all up in cool banana leaves, and hung it in the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo to cool. **Who acts:** Child · **What happens:** sit down, be, say, thank, pull, wrap up · **To what, where:** you, nose, cool banana leaves, great Limpopo · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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), 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:pg2781:6:55 # text = Then the Elephant’s Child sat down most hard and sudden; but first he was careful to say ‘Thank you’ to the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake; and next he was kind to his poor pulled nose, and wrapped it all up in cool banana leaves, and hung it in the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo to cool. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 6 advmod _ _ 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 6 nsubj _ _ 6 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 down down ADP RP _ 6 compound:prt _ _ 8 most most ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 9 amod _ _ 9 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 advcl _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 sudden sudden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT : _ 17 punct _ _ 13 but but CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 14 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 17 advmod _ _ 15 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 careful careful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 csubj _ _ 20 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 Thank thank VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 ccomp _ _ 22 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 21 punct _ _ 24 to to ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 26 Bi bi ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 Coloured coloured ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 Python python NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 Rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 33 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 32 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 34 Snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ; ; PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 37 next next ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 40 kind kind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 45 nmod:poss _ _ 43 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 44 pulled pull VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 amod _ _ 45 nose nose NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 wrapped wrap VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 49 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 obj _ _ 50 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 49 det _ _ 51 up up ADP RP _ 48 compound:prt _ _ 52 in in ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 53 cool cool ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 54 banana banana NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 compound _ _ 55 leaves leaf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 58 punct _ _ 57 and and CCONJ CC _ 58 cc _ _ 58 hung hang VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 59 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 58 obj _ _ 60 in in ADP IN _ 68 case _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 68 det _ _ 62 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 68 amod _ _ 63 grey grey NOUN NN Number=Sing 65 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 64 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 63 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 65 green green ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 62 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 66 , , PUNCT , _ 67 punct _ _ 67 greasy greasy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 62 conj _ _ 68 Limpopo Limpopo PROPN NNP Number=Sing 58 obl _ _ 69 to to PART TO _ 70 mark _ _ 70 cool cool VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 58 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 71 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit down** | past | the Elephant's Child | | | | then | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is** | past | Child | | | | | careful, first *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **thank** *speech: thank* | present | | | you | | | to the Bi Coloured Python Rock Snake | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme | | 5 | **is** | past | Child | | | | | to Child's poor pulled nose; kind, next *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **pull** | participle | | | | | | | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **wrap up** | past | the Elephant's Child *not said here* | nose | | cool banana leaves | | | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme in leaf=Destination | | 8 | **hang** | past | the Elephant's Child *not said here* | nose | | the great Limpopo | | | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme in limpopo=Destination | | 9 | **cool** | to-infinitive | the Elephant's Child *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/54/) - next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/56/) - ↑ back to [The Elephant’s Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/)