--- title: He was a Primitive, and he lived cavily in a Cave, and he wore very… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics description: He was a Primitive, and he lived cavily in a Cave, and he wore very few clothes, and he couldn’t read and he couldn’t write and he didn’t want to, and except when he was hungry he was quite happy. Who acts: man. A sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the First Letter Was Written, wi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/3/) [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/) / 3 # Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 3 He was a Primitive, and he lived cavily in a Cave, and he wore very few clothes, and he couldn’t read and he couldn’t write and he didn’t want to, and except when he was hungry he was quite happy. **Who acts:** man · **What happens:** be, live, wear, not read, not write, not want · **To what, where:** Cave, few clothes 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 (man), 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:pg2781:9:3 # text = He was a Primitive, and he lived cavily in a Cave, and he wore very few clothes, and he couldn’t read and he couldn’t write and he didn’t want to, and except when he was hungry he was quite happy. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 Primitive primitive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 7 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 9 cavily cavily ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 10 in in ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 Cave cave NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 15 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 wore wear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 17 very very ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 clothes clothes NOUN NNS Number=Ptan 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 23 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 24 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 25 advmod _ _ 25 read read VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 28 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 29 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 30 write write VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 conj _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 33 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 34 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 35 want want VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 conj _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 35 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 39 except except ADP IN _ 43 mark _ _ 40 when when SCONJ WRB _ 43 mark _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 43 hungry hungry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 advcl _ _ 44 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 46 quite quite ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 happy happy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | man | | | | | primitive *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **live** | past | man | | | a Cave | | cavily *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cave=Location | | 3 | **wear** | past | man | few clothes | | | | | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent clothes=Source | | 4 | **not** **read** | could | man | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **not** **write** | could | man | | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **not** **want** | past · do-support | man | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot | | 7 | **is** | past | man | | | | | hungry *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **is** | past | man | | | | | happy *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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/4/) - ↑ back to [How the First Letter Was Written](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2781/9/)