---
title: Besides, it was well known, he said, that men hunt Foxes simply for… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: Besides, it was well known, he said, that men hunt Foxes simply for their tails, which they cut off as prizes of the hunt. Who acts: Fox, men. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Fox Without a Tail, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Fox Without a Tail, sentence 9

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Besides, it was well known, he said, that men hunt Foxes simply for their tails, which they cut off as prizes of the hunt.

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**Who acts:** Fox, men · **What happens:** know, say, hunt, cut off · **To what, where:** tail, Foxes, tails · **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 (Fox, men), 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:pg19994:111:9
# text = Besides, it was well known, he said, that men hunt Foxes simply for their tails, which they cut off as prizes of the hunt.
1	Besides	besides	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	hunt	hunt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
14	Foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	prizes	prize	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hunt	hunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past · passive |  | tail |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hunt** | present | that men | Foxes |  |  |  | for men's tails; simply *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent fox=Location for tail=Theme |
| 4 | **cut off** | past | men *= man* | men's tails |  |  |  | as prizes of the hunt | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector which=Eventuality |

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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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