---
title: Taffy was very like Teshumai, especially about the upper part of the… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Taffy was very like Teshumai, especially about the upper part of the face and the eyes, so the Stranger-man--always a pure Tewara--smiled politely and handed Teshumai the birch-bark. Who acts: Taffy. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the First Letter Was Written, with its depen
---

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# Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 104

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Taffy was very like Teshumai, especially about the upper part of the face and the eyes, so the Stranger-man--always a pure Tewara--smiled politely and handed Teshumai the birch-bark.

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**Who acts:** Taffy · **What happens:** be, smile, hand · **To what, where:** birch bark, Teshumai

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the First Letter Was Written. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Taffy), 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:pg2781:9:104
# text = Taffy was very like Teshumai, especially about the upper part of the face and the eyes, so the Stranger-man--always a pure Tewara--smiled politely and handed Teshumai the birch-bark.
1	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Teshumai	Teshumai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	Stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	28	advmod	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	pure	pure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	Tewara	Tewara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	smiled	smile	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
31	politely	politely	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	handed	hand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
34	Teshumai	Teshumai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Taffy and Teshumai *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like Teshumai | tree rules |
| 2 | **smile** | past | Taffy and Teshumai |  |  |  |  | politely *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **hand** | past | Taffy and Teshumai *not said here* | the birch bark | Teshumai |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent teshumai=Destination bark=Theme |

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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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