---
title: Now the Fox made as if to climb a tree, now he fell over and lay sti… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the Fox made as if to climb a tree, now he fell over and lay still, playing dead, and the next instant he was hopping on all fours, his back in the air, and his bushy tail shaking so that it seemed to throw out silver sparks in the moonlight. Who acts: Fox, next instant, bushy tail, it. A senten
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Fox and the Pheasants, sentence 6

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Now the Fox made as if to climb a tree, now he fell over and lay still, playing dead, and the next instant he was hopping on all fours, his back in the air, and his bushy tail shaking so that it seemed to throw out silver sparks in the moonlight.

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**Who acts:** Fox, next instant, bushy tail, it · **What happens:** make, climb, fall over, lay, play, hop · **To what, where:** tree, back, fours, silver sparks, moonlight

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Fox and the Pheasants. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fox, next instant, bushy tail, it), 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:pg19994:117:6
# text = Now the Fox made as if to climb a tree, now he fell over and lay still, playing dead, and the next instant he was hopping on all fours, his back in the air, and his bushy tail shaking so that it seemed to throw out silver sparks in the moonlight.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
15	over	over	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
18	still	still	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
21	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	hopping	hop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	det	_	_
32	fours	four	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
42	bushy	bushy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
44	shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
45	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	48	mark	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	fixed	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	ccomp	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	out	out	ADP	RP	_	50	compound:prt	_	_
52	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	compound	_	_
53	sparks	spark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	moonlight	moonlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | participle | the Fox |  |  |  | now |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **climb** | to-infinitive | the Fox *not said here* | a tree |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |
| 3 | **fall over** | past | Fox |  |  |  | now | over *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **lay** | infinitive | Fox *not said here* |  |  |  | still |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **play** | gerund | Fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **hop** | past · progressive | the next instant | Fox's back in the air |  | all fours |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on four=Trajectory |
| 7 | **shake** | gerund | Fox's bushy tail |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 9 | **throw out** | to-infinitive |  | silver sparks |  | the moonlight |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent spark=Theme in moonlight=Destination |

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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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