--- title: They had filled his hair quite solid with mud; they had rolled him u… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: They had filled his hair quite solid with mud; they had rolled him up and down on knobby pebbles; they had sat upon him in a long line of six; they had thumped him and bumped him till he could hardly breathe; and though he did not understand their language, he was almost sure that the names the Neol --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/116/) [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/) / 116 # Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 116 They had filled his hair quite solid with mud; they had rolled him up and down on knobby pebbles; they had sat upon him in a long line of six; they had thumped him and bumped him till he could hardly breathe; and though he did not understand their language, he was almost sure that the names the Neolithic ladies called him were not ladylike. **Who acts:** people, man, names · **What happens:** fill, roll up, sit, thump, bump, breathe · **To what, where:** hair, people, long line, man, language · **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 (people, man, names), 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:pg2781:9:116 # text = They had filled his hair quite solid with mud; they had rolled him up and down on knobby pebbles; they had sat upon him in a long line of six; they had thumped him and bumped him till he could hardly breathe; and though he did not understand their language, he was almost sure that the names the Neolithic ladies called him were not ladylike. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 filled fill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 6 quite quite ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 solid solid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 8 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 mud mud NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ; ; PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 11 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj:pass _ _ 12 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 rolled roll VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 parataxis _ _ 14 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 up up ADP RP _ 13 compound:prt _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 down down ADV RB _ 13 conj _ _ 18 on on ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 knobby knobby ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 pebbles pebble NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT : _ 24 punct _ _ 22 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 sat sit VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 parataxis _ _ 25 upon upon ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ _ 27 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 line line NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 six six NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 thumped thump VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 conj _ _ 37 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 bumped bump VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 40 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 obj _ _ 41 till till SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 42 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 43 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 hardly hardly ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 breathe breathe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 ; ; PUNCT : _ 52 punct _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 48 though though SCONJ IN _ 52 mark _ _ 49 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 52 nsubj _ _ 50 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 52 aux _ _ 51 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 52 advmod _ _ 52 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 parataxis _ _ 53 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 54 nmod:poss _ _ 54 language language NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 55 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 56 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 57 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 cop _ _ 58 almost almost ADV RB _ 59 advmod _ _ 59 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 70 advcl _ _ 60 that that SCONJ IN _ 66 mark _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 names name NOUN NNS Number=Plur 66 nsubj _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 64 Neolithic neolithic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 65 amod _ _ 65 ladies lady NOUN NNS Number=Plur 62 nmod _ _ 66 called call VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 ccomp _ _ 67 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 66 obj _ _ 68 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 70 cop _ _ 69 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 70 advmod _ _ 70 ladylike ladylike ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 71 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fill** | past · perfect | people | man's hair | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hair=Patient | | 2 | **roll up** | past · perfect · passive | | people | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP ADJ.result»: subject=Theme he=Result | | 3 | **sit** | past · perfect | people | | | a long line of six | | upon man | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon he=Location | | 4 | **thump** | past · perfect · passive | | people | | | | | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient he=Result | | 5 | **bump** | past | | man | | | | | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent he=Instrument | | 6 | **breathe** | could | man | | | | | hardly *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | man | people's language | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus | | 8 | **is** | past | man | | | | | almost, sure *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **call** | past | the names the Neolithic ladies | | man | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 10 | **not** **is** | past | | | | | | ladylike *property* | tree rules | 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 115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/115/) - next →: [sentence 117](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/117/) - ↑ back to [How the First Letter Was Written](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/)