--- title: Behind them was the Tribe in hierarchical order, from owners of four… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: Behind them was the Tribe in hierarchical order, from owners of four caves (one for each season), a private reindeer-run, and two salmon-leaps, to feudal and prognathous Villeins, semi-entitled to half a bearskin of winter nights, seven yards from the fire, and adscript serfs, holding the reversion --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/127/) [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/) / 127 # Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 127 Behind them was the Tribe in hierarchical order, from owners of four caves (one for each season), a private reindeer-run, and two salmon-leaps, to feudal and prognathous Villeins, semi-entitled to half a bearskin of winter nights, seven yards from the fire, and adscript serfs, holding the reversion of a scraped marrow-bone under heriot (Aren’t those beautiful words, Best Beloved?). **Who acts:** legs, feudal Villeins, scraped marrow bone · **What happens:** be, semi-entitl, hold, scrape, not be, revert · **To what, where:** hierarchical order, feudal Villeins, reversion, beautiful words 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 (legs, feudal Villeins, scraped marrow bone), 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:pg2781:9:127 # text = Behind them was the Tribe in hierarchical order, from owners of four caves (one for each season), a private reindeer-run, and two salmon-leaps, to feudal and prognathous Villeins, semi-entitled to half a bearskin of winter nights, seven yards from the fire, and adscript serfs, holding the reversion of a scraped marrow-bone under heriot (Aren’t those beautiful words, Best Beloved?). 1 Behind behind ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 2 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 Tribe Tribe PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 hierarchical hierarchical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 order order NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 from from ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 owners owner NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 conj _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 14 nummod _ _ 14 caves cave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 nmod _ _ 15 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 14 appos _ _ 17 for for ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 19 det _ _ 19 season season NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 23 private private ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 24 reindeer reindeer NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 25 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 run run NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 29 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 32 nummod _ _ 30 salmon salmon NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 leaps leap NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 34 to to ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 35 feudal feudal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 prognathous prognathous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 conj _ _ 38 Villeins villein NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 40 semi-entitled semi-entitl VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 38 acl _ _ 41 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 42 half half DET PDT NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind 44 det:predet _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 bearskin bearskin NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 advcl _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 winter winter NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 compound _ _ 47 nights night NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 49 seven seven NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 50 nummod _ _ 50 yards yard NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 conj _ _ 51 from from ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 55 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 56 adscript adscript ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 amod _ _ 57 serfs serf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 58 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 59 holding hold VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 38 acl _ _ 60 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 61 det _ _ 61 reversion reversion NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obj _ _ 62 of of ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 63 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 64 scraped scrape VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 67 amod _ _ 65 marrow marrow NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 66 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 65 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 67 bone bone NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 nmod _ _ 68 under under ADP IN _ 69 case _ _ 69 heriot heriot NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 nmod _ _ 70 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 75 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 71 Are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 75 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 72 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 75 advmod _ _ 73 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 75 det _ _ 74 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 75 amod _ _ 75 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 76 , , PUNCT , _ 78 punct _ _ 77 Best Good ADJ NNP Degree=Pos 78 flat _ _ 78 Beloved Beloved PROPN NNP Number=Sing 75 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 79 ? ? PUNCT . _ 78 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 80 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 75 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 81 . . PUNCT . _ 32 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | legs *= leg* | | | hierarchical order and owners of four caves and a private reindeer run | | | tree rules | | 2 | **semi-entitl** | participle | | feudal Villeins *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **hold** | gerund | feudal Villeins *not said here* | the reversion of a scraped marrow bone under heriot | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reversion=Theme | | 4 | **scrape** | participle | | | | | | | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **not** **is a** | present | | that beautiful words | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **revert** | | a scraped marrow bone under heriot | | | | | | nom reversion «possession intransitive»: of=agent | 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 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/126/) - next →: [sentence 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/128/) - ↑ back to [How the First Letter Was Written](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/)