---
title: NOT always was the Kangaroo as now we do behold him, but a Different… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: NOT always was the Kangaroo as now we do behold him, but a Different Animal with four short legs. Who acts: we. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Sing-song of Old Man Kangaroo, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Just so stories, The Sing-song of Old Man Kangaroo, sentence 1

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NOT always was the Kangaroo as now we do behold him, but a Different Animal with four short legs.

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** not be, behold · **To what, where:** Kangaroo

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Sing-song of Old Man Kangaroo. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we), 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:pg2781:7:1
# text = NOT always was the Kangaroo as now we do behold him, but a Different Animal with four short legs.
1	NOT	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
2	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Kangaroo	Kangaroo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	obl	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	behold	behold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	Animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
19	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past |  | the Kangaroo |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **behold** | present · do-support | we | Kangaroo |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

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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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