--- title: He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, an… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad, broad hoof; and he asked his hairy uncle, the Baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him with his hairy, hairy paw. Who acts: Eleph --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/8/) [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/) / 8 # Just so stories, The Elephant’s Child, sentence 8 He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad, broad hoof; and he asked his hairy uncle, the Baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him with his hairy, hairy paw. **Who acts:** Elephant, eyes, broad aunt, melons, hairy uncle · **What happens:** ask, be, spank, taste · **To what, where:** broad aunt, Elephant, hairy uncle 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 (Elephant, eyes, broad aunt, melons), 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:pg2781:6:8 # text = He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad, broad hoof; and he asked his hairy uncle, the Baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him with his hairy, hairy paw. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 4 broad broad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 aunt aunt NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 Hippopotamus Hippopotamus PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 14 advmod _ _ 11 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nsubj _ _ 13 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 14 red red ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 17 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 18 broad broad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 aunt aunt NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 Hippopotamus Hippopotamus PROPN NNP Number=Sing 19 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 24 spanked spank VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 25 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 27 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 28 broad broad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 30 broad broad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 hoof hoof NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT : _ 35 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 36 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 37 hairy hairy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 uncle uncle NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 Baboon Baboon PROPN NNP Number=Sing 38 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 43 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 45 advmod _ _ 44 melons melon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 nsubj _ _ 45 tasted taste VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 conj _ _ 46 just just ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 so so ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 50 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 51 hairy hairy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 uncle uncle NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 Baboon Baboon PROPN NNP Number=Sing 52 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 57 spanked spank VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 conj _ _ 58 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 57 obj _ _ 59 with with ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 60 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 64 nmod:poss _ _ 61 hairy hairy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 64 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 62 , , PUNCT , _ 61 punct _ _ 63 hairy hairy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 64 amod _ _ 64 paw paw NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Elephant | | Elephant's broad aunt | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent aunt=Recipient | | 2 | **is** | past | aunt's eyes | | | | | red *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **spank** | past | Elephant's broad aunt | Elephant | | | | with aunt's broad broad hoof | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with hoof=Instrument | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Elephant | | Elephant's hairy uncle | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent uncle=Recipient | | 5 | **taste** | past | melons | | | | | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 6 | **spank** | past | Elephant's hairy uncle | Elephant | | | | with Elephant's hairy hairy paw | vn spank-18.3 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with paw=Instrument | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/9/) - ↑ back to [The Elephant’s Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/6/)