--- title: ‘I don’t know, because I’ve never been scooped out of my shell befor… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: ‘I don’t know, because I’ve never been scooped out of my shell before; but I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away you’ve only got to drop me into the water. Who acts: I, you, me. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, The Beginning of the Armadillos, with its dependency tree --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/51/) [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/) / 51 # Just so stories, The Beginning of the Armadillos, sentence 51 ‘I don’t know, because I’ve never been scooped out of my shell before; but I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away you’ve only got to drop me into the water. **Who acts:** I, you, me · **What happens:** not know, not scoop, tell, want, see, swim away · **To what, where:** I, shell, you, me, water · **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 (I, you, me), 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:pg2781:8:51 # text = ‘I don’t know, because I’ve never been scooped out of my shell before; but I tell you truly, if you want to see me swim away you’ve only got to drop me into the water. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 4 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 7 because because SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 8 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ’ve have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 10 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 12 advmod _ _ 11 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 scooped scoop VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 5 ccomp _ _ 13 out out ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 shell shell NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 17 before before ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 20 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 tell tell VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 22 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 21 iobj _ _ 23 truly truly ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 if if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 ccomp _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ _ 30 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ _ 31 swim swim VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 32 away away ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 33 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ’ve have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 35 only only ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 27 parataxis _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 drop drop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 into into ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **not** **scoop** | present · perfect · passive | | I | | my shell | | before *property* | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme out shell=Trajectory | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | I | | you | | | truly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 5 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | me | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **swim away** | infinitive | me *not said here* | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **get** | present · perfect | you | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 8 | **drop** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | me | | the water | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent i=Theme into water=Destination | 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 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/50/) - next →: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/52/) - ↑ back to [The Beginning of the Armadillos](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/8/)