---
title: With such proof of the danger and uselessness of having a tail, said… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: With such proof of the danger and uselessness of having a tail, said Master Fox, he would advise every Fox to cut it off, if he valued life and safety. Who acts: uselessness, Master Fox, Fox. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Fox Without a Tail, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Fox Without a Tail, sentence 10

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With such proof of the danger and uselessness of having a tail, said Master Fox, he would advise every Fox to cut it off, if he valued life and safety.

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**Who acts:** uselessness, Master Fox, Fox · **What happens:** have, say, advise, cut off, value, proof · **To what, where:** tail, Fox, life, danger · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Fox Without a Tail. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (uselessness, Master Fox, Fox), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg19994:111:10
# text = With such proof of the danger and uselessness of having a tail, said Master Fox, he would advise every Fox to cut it off, if he valued life and safety.
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	uselessness	uselessness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
9	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	Fox	Fox	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	advise	advise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
21	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	det	_	_
22	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	off	off	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	valued	value	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
31	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | uselessness *not said here* | a tail |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Master Fox |  |  |  |  | with such proof of the danger and uselessness | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent with proof=Manner |
| 3 | **advise** *speech: other* | would | Fox | every Fox |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent fox=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **cut off** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | every Fox *not said here* | tail |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector it=Eventuality |
| 5 | **value** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Fox | life and safety |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer life=Stimulus |
| 6 | **proof** |  |  | the danger and uselessness |  |  |  |  | nom proof «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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 Aesop for Children» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 19994 (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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