---
title: The argument grew very pointed, and it looked as if the affair could… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: The argument grew very pointed, and it looked as if the affair could not be settled without a battle, when at last, with much good sense, they _agreed_ to let a judge decide the matter. Who acts: argument, it, judge. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Bees and Wasps, and the Hornet
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Bees and Wasps, and the Hornet, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The argument grew very pointed, and it looked as if the affair could not be settled without a battle, when at last, with much good sense, they \_agreed\_ to let a judge decide the matter.

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**Who acts:** argument, it, judge · **What happens:** grow, look, not settle, agree, let, decide · **To what, where:** affair, Bees, judge, matter

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Bees and Wasps, and the Hornet. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (argument, it, judge), 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:pg19994:129:3
# text = The argument grew very pointed, and it looked as if the affair could not be settled without a battle, when at last, with much good sense, they _agreed_ to let a judge decide the matter.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	argument	argument	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	pointed	pointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	affair	affair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	settled	settle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	advcl	_	_
18	without	without	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	_	_	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	33	punct	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	judge	judge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	decide	decide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the argument |  |  |  |  | pointed *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **settle** | could · passive |  | the affair |  |  |  | without a battle | vn odge-46-1 «NP V ADV»: subject=Location |
| 4 | **agree** *speech: agree* | present · passive |  | Bees *= bee* |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: subject=Co-Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **let** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | a judge |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **decide** | infinitive | a judge *not said here* | the matter |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent matter=Topic |

<!-- .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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