--- title: So he gave Taffy the shark’s tooth, and she lay down flat on her tum… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: So he gave Taffy the shark’s tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy with her legs in the air, like some people on the drawing-room floor when they want to draw pictures, and she said, ‘Now I’ll draw you some beautiful pictures! Who acts: man, Taffy, teeth, I. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Ru --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/58/) [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/) / [How the First Letter Was Written](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/) / 58 # Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 58 So he gave Taffy the shark’s tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy with her legs in the air, like some people on the drawing-room floor when they want to draw pictures, and she said, ‘Now I’ll draw you some beautiful pictures! **Who acts:** man, Taffy, teeth, I · **What happens:** give, lie down, want, draw, say · **To what, where:** tooth, Taffy, tummy, pictures, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (man, Taffy, teeth, I), 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:pg2781:9:58 # text = So he gave Taffy the shark’s tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy with her legs in the air, like some people on the drawing-room floor when they want to draw pictures, and she said, ‘Now I’ll draw you some beautiful pictures! 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 Taffy Taffy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 iobj _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 shark shark NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ’s 's PART POS _ 6 case _ _ 8 tooth tooth NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 13 down down ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 14 flat flat ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 15 on on ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 tummy tummy NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 18 with with ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 20 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 21 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 like like ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 27 det _ _ 27 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 28 on on ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 30 drawing drawing NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 compound _ _ 33 floor floor NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ _ 34 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 36 advmod _ _ 35 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 advcl _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 draw draw VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 pictures picture NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 42 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 45 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 49 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 49 advmod _ _ 47 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ’ll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 49 draw draw VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 conj _ _ 50 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 49 obj _ _ 51 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 53 det _ _ 52 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 pictures picture NOUN NNS Number=Plur 49 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 54 ! ! PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **give** | past | man | the shark's tooth | Taffy | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent taffy=Recipient tooth=Theme | | 2 | **lie down** | past | Taffy | | | Taffy's tummy | | with Taffy's legs; in the air; like some people on the room floor; down, flat *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on tummy=Location | | 3 | **want** | present | teeth *= tooth* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 4 | **draw** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | teeth *= tooth* *not said here* | pictures | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent picture=Theme | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Taffy | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **draw** | future | I | | you | | now | | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary picture=Result | 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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/59/) - ↑ back to [How the First Letter Was Written](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/)