---
title: There was once a Dog who was so ill-natured and mischievous that his… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a Dog who was so ill-natured and mischievous that his Master had to fasten a heavy wooden clog about his neck to keep him from annoying visitors and neighbors. Who acts: Dog, Master. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Mischievous Dog, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Mischievous Dog, sentence 1

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There was once a Dog who was so ill-natured and mischievous that his Master had to fasten a heavy wooden clog about his neck to keep him from annoying visitors and neighbors.

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**Who acts:** Dog, Master · **What happens:** be, have, fasten, keep · **To what, where:** heavy wooden clog, Dog

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Mischievous Dog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dog, Master), 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:pg19994:112:1
# text = There was once a Dog who was so ill-natured and mischievous that his Master had to fasten a heavy wooden clog about his neck to keep him from annoying visitors and neighbors.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	natured	natured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	mischievous	mischievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	fasten	fasten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	clog	clog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	about	about	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	annoying	annoying	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	visitors	visitor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	neighbors	neighbor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a Dog |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | a Dog |  |  |  |  | natured *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | a Dog *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | Dog's Master |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fasten** | to-infinitive | Dog's Master *not said here* | a heavy wooden clog |  |  |  | about Dog's neck | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clog=Patient |
| 6 | **keep** | to-infinitive | Dog's Master *not said here* |  | Dog |  |  | from annoying visitors and neighbors | vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer he=Beneficiary from visitor=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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