---
title: Then said Nqong, ‘Perhaps I’m mistaken, but didn’t you ask me to mak… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said Nqong, ‘Perhaps I’m mistaken, but didn’t you ask me to make you different from all other animals, as well as to make you very truly sought after? Who acts: Nqong, I, you. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Sing-song of Old Man Kangaroo, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Just so stories, The Sing-song of Old Man Kangaroo, sentence 47

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Then said Nqong, ‘Perhaps I’m mistaken, but didn’t you ask me to make you different from all other animals, as well as to make you very truly sought after?

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**Who acts:** Nqong, I, you · **What happens:** say, be, not ask, make, seek after · **To what, where:** me, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Nqong, I, 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:pg2781:7:47
# text = Then said Nqong, ‘Perhaps I’m mistaken, but didn’t you ask me to make you different from all other animals, as well as to make you very truly sought after?
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Nqong	Nqong	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’m	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	mistaken	mistaken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
21	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
23	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	30	cc	_	_
27	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	fixed	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	fixed	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
31	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	very	very	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	sought	seek	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	_
35	after	after	ADP	IN	_	34	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Nqong |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **be** | present | I |  |  |  |  | mistaken, perhaps *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **ask** *speech: ask* | past · do-support | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | you |  |  |  | different *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset you=Product |
| 5 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | you |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset you=Product |
| 6 | **seek after** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | truly *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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