--- title: Then the Sea Cow began to travel northward very slowly, stopping to… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then the Sea Cow began to travel northward very slowly, stopping to hold absurd bowing councils from time to time, and Kotick followed them, saying to himself, “People who are such idiots as these are would have been killed long ago if they hadn’t found out some safe island. Who acts: Sea Cow, Kotic --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/12/59/) [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/) / [The Jungle Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/) / [The Jungle Book, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/12/) / 59 # The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 12, sentence 59 Then the Sea Cow began to travel northward very slowly, stopping to hold absurd bowing councils from time to time, and Kotick followed them, saying to himself, “People who are such idiots as these are would have been killed long ago if they hadn’t found out some safe island. **Who acts:** Sea Cow, Kotick, People · **What happens:** begin, travel, stop, hold, bow, follow · **To what, where:** absurd bowing councils, councils, Kotick, such idiots, safe island · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sea Cow, Kotick, People), 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:pg236:12:59 # text = Then the Sea Cow began to travel northward very slowly, stopping to hold absurd bowing councils from time to time, and Kotick followed them, saying to himself, “People who are such idiots as these are would have been killed long ago if they hadn’t found out some safe island. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 5 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 Sea Sea PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 compound _ _ 4 Cow Cow PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 travel travel VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 xcomp _ _ 8 northward northward ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 9 very very ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 10 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 stopping stop VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 hold hold VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 15 absurd absurd ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 16 bowing bow VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 17 amod _ _ 17 councils council NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ _ 18 from from ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 Kotick Kotick PROPN NNP Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 25 followed follow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 26 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 28 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 29 to to ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 32 “ " PUNCT `` _ 37 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 People people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nsubj _ _ 34 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 37 nsubj _ _ 35 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 36 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 idiots idiot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obl _ _ 38 as as ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 these this PRON DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 37 nmod _ _ 40 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 44 aux:pass _ _ 41 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 42 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 44 aux _ _ 43 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 44 aux:pass _ _ 44 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 28 ccomp _ _ 45 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 46 advmod _ _ 46 ago ago ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 47 if if SCONJ IN _ 51 mark _ _ 48 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj _ _ 49 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 50 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 51 advmod _ _ 51 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 44 advcl _ _ 52 out out ADP RP _ 51 compound:prt _ _ 53 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 55 det _ _ 54 safe safe ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 55 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | past | the Sea Cow | | | | then | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **travel** | to-infinitive | the Sea Cow *not said here* | | | | | northward, slowly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **stop** | gerund | the Sea Cow *not said here* | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **hold** | to-infinitive | the Sea Cow *not said here* | absurd bowing councils | | | time | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent council=Theme | | 5 | **bow** | gerund | | | | | | | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **follow** | past | Kotick | councils *= council* | | | | | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the Sea Cow *not said here* | | Kotick | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient clause=Topic | | 8 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | People | such idiots | | | | as these | tree rules | | 9 | **kill** *in a quote* | would · present · perfect · passive | | | | | | ago *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» | | 10 | **not** **find out** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect | People | some safe island | | | | | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent island=Topic | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/12/58/) - next →: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/12/60/) - ↑ back to [The Jungle Book, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/12/)