---
title: For a long time he kept away from the other Foxes, for he knew well… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: For a long time he kept away from the other Foxes, for he knew well enough that they would all make fun of him and crack jokes and laugh behind his back. Who acts: Fox, they. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Fox Without a Tail, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Fox Without a Tail, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For a long time he kept away from the other Foxes, for he knew well enough that they would all make fun of him and crack jokes and laugh behind his back.

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**Who acts:** Fox, they · **What happens:** keep away, know, make, crack, laugh · **To what, where:** fun, jokes, back

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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 (Fox, they), 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:pg19994:111:3
# text = For a long time he kept away from the other Foxes, for he knew well enough that they would all make fun of him and crack jokes and laugh behind his back.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	away	away	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	Foxes	Fox	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
16	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
17	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	all	all	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
23	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	crack	crack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
28	jokes	joke	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	laugh	laugh	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
31	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep away** | past | Fox |  |  |  | time | from the other Foxes; away *property* | vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer from fox=Eventuality |
| 2 | **know** | past | Fox |  |  |  |  | enough, well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **make** | would | they | fun of Fox |  |  |  | all *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fun=Product |
| 4 | **crack** | infinitive | they *not said here* | jokes |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location joke=Theme |
| 5 | **laugh** | present | they *not said here* |  |  | Fox's back |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 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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