---
title: Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in J… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June, for they did not care to be torn to pieces; and the young two-, three-, and four-year-old seals who had not begun housekeeping went inland about half a mile through the ranks of the fighters and played about on the sand dunes i
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 10, sentence 120

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June, for they did not care to be torn to pieces; and the young two-, three-, and four-year-old seals who had not begun housekeeping went inland about half a mile through the ranks of the fighters and played about on the sand dunes in droves and legions, and rubbed off every single green thing that grew.

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**Who acts:** wives, young two old seals, single green thing · **What happens:** not come, not care, tear, not begin, go, play about · **To what, where:** island, pieces, housekeeping, mile, ranks, sand dunes

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This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wives, young two old seals, single green thing), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg236:10:120
# text = Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June, for they did not care to be torn to pieces; and the young two-, three-, and four-year-old seals who had not begun housekeeping went inland about half a mile through the ranks of the fighters and played about on the sand dunes in droves and legions, and rubbed off every single green thing that grew.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	until	until	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	May	May	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	June	June	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	care	care	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	49	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
30	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
31	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
38	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	40	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	seals	seal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
44	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
45	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	47	advmod	_	_
47	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	43	acl:relcl	_	_
48	housekeeping	housekeeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
49	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
50	inland	inland	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
51	about	about	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	54	det:predet	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	mile	mile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
55	through	through	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	ranks	rank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	_
58	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	fighters	fighter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	nmod	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	_
63	about	about	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
64	on	on	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
66	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	compound	_	_
67	dunes	dune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	obl	_	_
68	in	in	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	droves	drove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	67	nmod	_	_
70	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	71	cc	_	_
71	legions	legion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	69	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
73	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	74	cc	_	_
74	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
75	off	off	ADP	RP	_	74	compound:prt	_	_
76	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	79	det	_	_
77	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	79	amod	_	_
78	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	79	amod	_	_
79	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obj	_	_
80	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	81	nsubj	_	_
81	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	79	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come** | past | miles's wives |  |  | the island | may |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to island=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **not** **care** | past · do-support | wives *= wife* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **tear** | to-infinitive · passive | wives *= wife* *not said here* |  |  | pieces |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: to piece=Destination |
| 4 | **not** **begin** | past · perfect | the young two old seals | housekeeping |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent housekeeping=Eventuality |
| 5 | **go** | past | the young two old seals | half mile |  | the ranks of the fighters |  | inland *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through rank=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **play about** | past | the young two old seals *not said here* |  |  | the sand dunes in droves and legions |  | about *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **rub off** | participle | miles's wives *not said here* | every single green thing |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |
| 8 | **grow** | past | every single green thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 236 (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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