--- title: At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder, and before he knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that fly dead with the end of it. Who acts: fly, that. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child, with its dependency tree and the --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/63/) [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/) / 63 # Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 63 At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder, and before he knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that fly dead with the end of it. **Who acts:** fly, that · **What happens:** come, sting, know, do, lift up, hit · **To what, where:** end, fly, trunk · **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 (fly, that), 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:pg2781:6:63 # text = At the end of the third day a fly came and stung him on the shoulder, and before he knew what he was doing he lifted up his trunk and hit that fly dead with the end of it. 1 At at ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 third third ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 7 amod _ _ 7 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 fly fly NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 10 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 stung sting VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 13 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 obj _ _ 14 on on ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 shoulder shoulder NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 before before SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 22 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 25 obj _ _ 23 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 doing do VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 ccomp _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 lifted lift VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 ccomp _ _ 28 up up ADP RP _ 27 compound:prt _ _ 29 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 trunk trunk NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 33 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 34 nsubj _ _ 34 fly fly VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 ccomp _ _ 35 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 xcomp _ _ 36 with with ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | a fly | | | | at the end of the third day | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at end=Location | | 2 | **sting** | past | a fly *not said here* | fly | | | | on the shoulder | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.theme PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Experiencer on shoulder=Theme | | 3 | **know** | past | fly | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **do** | past · progressive | fly | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **lift up** | past | fly | fly's trunk | | | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trunk=Theme | | 6 | **hit** | past | fly *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **fly** | present | that | | | | | dead *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/62/) - next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/64/) - ↑ back to [The Elephant’s Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/)