---
title: ‘Now,’ said Taffy, ‘I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Now,’ said Taffy, ‘I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs are longer than mine, and you won’t fall into the beaver-swamp, and ask for Daddy’s other spear--the one with the black handle that hangs over our fireplace.’ Who acts: Taffy, I, you, legs. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard
---

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# Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 43

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‘Now,’ said Taffy, ‘I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs are longer than mine, and you won’t fall into the beaver-swamp, and ask for Daddy’s other spear--the one with the black handle that hangs over our fireplace.’

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**Who acts:** Taffy, I, you, legs, black handle · **What happens:** say, want, go, be, not fall, ask · **To what, where:** you, Mummy, beaver swamp, fireplace · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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, I, you, legs), 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:pg2781:9:43
# text = ‘Now,’ said Taffy, ‘I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs are longer than mine, and you won’t fall into the beaver-swamp, and ask for Daddy’s other spear--the one with the black handle that hangs over our fireplace.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	Mummy	Mummy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	longer	long	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	parataxis	_	_
23	than	than	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	wo	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
33	beaver	beaver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	swamp	swamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
40	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	’s	's	PART	POS	_	40	case	_	_
42	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	appos	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	handle	handle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
51	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	_
52	hangs	hang	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	_
53	over	over	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	fireplace	fireplace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Taffy |  |  |  | now |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **want** | present | I | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  | my Mummy |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to mummy=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **is** | present | your legs |  |  |  |  | than mine; long *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **fall** | future | you |  |  |  |  | into the beaver swamp *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into swamp=Result |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for Daddy's other spear | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **hang** | present | the black handle |  |  | our fireplace |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over fireplace=Location |

<!-- .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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