--- title: He thought, ‘There must be a big battle going to be fought somewhere… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: He thought, ‘There must be a big battle going to be fought somewhere, and this extraordinary child, who takes my magic shark’s tooth but who does not swell up or burst, is telling me to call all the great Chief’s tribe to help him. Who acts: man, big battle, extraordinary child. A sentence of «Just --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/70/) [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/) / 70 # Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 70 He thought, ‘There must be a big battle going to be fought somewhere, and this extraordinary child, who takes my magic shark’s tooth but who does not swell up or burst, is telling me to call all the great Chief’s tribe to help him. **Who acts:** man, big battle, extraordinary child · **What happens:** think, go, fight, take, not swell up, burst · **To what, where:** tooth, me, tribe, man · **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, big battle, extraordinary child), 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:pg2781:9:70 # text = He thought, ‘There must be a big battle going to be fought somewhere, and this extraordinary child, who takes my magic shark’s tooth but who does not swell up or burst, is telling me to call all the great Chief’s tribe to help him. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 4 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 7 expl _ _ 6 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 7 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 11 aux _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 battle battle NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 ccomp _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 13 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 14 aux:pass _ _ 14 fought fight VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 xcomp _ _ 15 somewhere somewhere ADV RB PronType=Ind 14 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 18 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 20 det _ _ 19 extraordinary extraordinary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 23 takes take VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 acl:relcl _ _ 24 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 25 magic magic NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 compound _ _ 26 shark shark NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ’s 's PART POS _ 26 case _ _ 28 tooth tooth NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 30 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 31 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 33 advmod _ _ 33 swell swell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 conj _ _ 34 up up ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ _ 35 or or CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 burst burst VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 38 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 telling tell VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 advcl _ _ 40 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 iobj _ _ 41 to to PART TO _ 42 mark _ _ 42 call call VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 xcomp _ _ 43 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 48 det:predet _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 Chief Chief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 48 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ’s 's PART POS _ 46 case _ _ 48 tribe tribe NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 advcl _ _ 51 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **go** | infinitive · progressive | a big battle | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **fight** | to-infinitive · passive | a big battle *not said here* | | | | | somewhere *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V» | | 4 | **take** | present | this extraordinary child | my magic shark's tooth | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Theme | | 5 | **not** **swell up** | present · do-support | | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 6 | **burst** | participle | | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · progressive | this extraordinary child | | me | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic | | 8 | **call** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | this extraordinary child *not said here* | the great Chief's tribe | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tribe=Recipient | | 9 | **help** | to-infinitive | this extraordinary child *not said here* | | man | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary | 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 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/69/) - next →: [sentence 71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/71/) - ↑ back to [How the First Letter Was Written](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/)