--- title: My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. Who acts: mother, I, Hedgehog. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Beginning of the Armadillos, with its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/14/) [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 Beginning of the Armadillos](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/) / 14 # Just so stories, The Beginning of the Armadillos, sentence 14 My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. **Who acts:** mother, I, Hedgehog · **What happens:** say, meet, drop, uncoil, scoop · **To what, where:** Hedgehog, water, Tortoise, shell · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Beginning of the Armadillos. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, I, Hedgehog), 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:pg2781:8:14 # text = My mother said that when I meet a Hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and then he will uncoil, and when I meet a Tortoise I am to scoop him out of his shell with my paw. 1 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 5 when when SCONJ WRB _ 7 mark _ _ 6 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 meet meet VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 advcl _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 Hedgehog hedgehog NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 11 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 drop drop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 14 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 into into ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 19 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 22 advmod _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 uncoil uncoil VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 25 when when SCONJ WRB _ 27 mark _ _ 26 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 meet meet VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 Tortoise tortoise NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 30 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 31 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 33 scoop scoop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 34 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 out out ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 shell shell NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 39 with with ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 paw paw NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | My mother | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **meet** | present | I | a Hedgehog | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hedgehog=Co-Agent | | 3 | **drop** | present | I | Hedgehog | | the water | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme into water=Destination | | 4 | **uncoil** | future | Hedgehog | | | | then | | vn separate-23.1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **meet** | present | I | a Tortoise | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tortoise=Co-Agent | | 6 | **scoop** | present | I | Hedgehog | | Hedgehog's shell | | with my paw | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent he=Theme out shell=Trajectory | 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 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/15/) - ↑ back to [The Beginning of the Armadillos](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/)