---
title: Generations of monkeys had been scared into good behavior by the sto… — The Jungle Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Generations of monkeys had been scared into good behavior by the stories their elders told them of Kaa, the night thief, who could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows, and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived; of old Kaa, who could make himself look so like a dead branch or a
---

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# The Jungle Book, The Jungle Book, part 6, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Generations of monkeys had been scared into good behavior by the stories their elders told them of Kaa, the night thief, who could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows, and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived; of old Kaa, who could make himself look so like a dead branch or a rotten stump that the wisest were deceived, till the branch caught them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** elders, night thief, moss, strongest monkey, old Kaa, branch · **What happens:** scare, tell, slip, grow, steal away, live · **To what, where:** Generations, good behavior, strongest monkey, moss, wisest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jungle Book» by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elders, night thief, moss, strongest monkey), 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:pg236:6:102
# text = Generations of monkeys had been scared into good behavior by the stories their elders told them of Kaa, the night thief, who could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows, and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived; of old Kaa, who could make himself look so like a dead branch or a rotten stump that the wisest were deceived, till the branch caught them.
1	Generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	scared	scare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	behavior	behavior	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Kaa	Kaa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	slip	slip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	acl:relcl	_	_
27	along	along	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	steal	steal	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
38	away	away	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	41	amod	_	_
41	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
42	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
43	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	44	advmod	_	_
44	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	Kaa	Kaa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	_
51	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	acl:relcl	_	_
53	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	52	obj	_	_
54	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	xcomp	_	_
55	so	so	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
56	like	like	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
60	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
61	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	rotten	rotten	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	stump	stump	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	conj	_	_
64	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	68	mark	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	wisest	wise	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	68	nsubj	_	_
67	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	68	aux:pass	_	_
68	deceived	deceive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	63	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
70	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	73	mark	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	nsubj	_	_
73	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	68	conj	_	_
74	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scare** | past · perfect · passive |  | Generations of monkeys |  | good behavior |  | of old Kaa | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Generations's elders |  | Generations *= generation* |  |  | by the stories | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 3 | **slip** | could | the night thief |  |  |  |  | along the branches; quietly *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **grow** | present | moss |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **steal away** | present |  | the strongest monkey |  |  |  | away *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location monkey=Theme |
| 6 | **live** | past | the strongest monkey |  |  |  | ever |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **make** | could | old Kaa | moss |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **look** | infinitive | moss *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like a dead branch or a rotten stump | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 9 | **deceive** | past · passive |  | the wisest |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 10 | **catch** | past | the branch | Generations *= generation* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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