---
title: ‘How would you like to spank somebody?’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘How would you like to spank somebody?’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake. Who acts: you. 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 76

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‘How would you like to spank somebody?’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.

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**Who acts:** you · **What happens:** like, spank, say · **To what, where:** somebody, Bi Coloured Rock Snake · **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 (you), 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:pg2781:6:76
# text = ‘How would you like to spank somebody?’ said the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	spank	spank	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	somebody	somebody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
13	Bi	bi	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Coloured	coloured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	Rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | would | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **spank** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | somebody |  |  |  |  | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent somebody=Patient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the Bi Coloured Rock Snake |  |  |  |  | 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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