---
title: To the Cat it was almost as if he already had a plump young Mouse un… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: To the Cat it was almost as if he already had a plump young Mouse under his claws, when an old Rat, who had had much experience with Cats and traps, and had even lost a part of his tail to pay for it, sat up at a safe distance from a hole in the wall where he lived. Who acts: Cat, had much experienc
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Cat and the Old Rat, sentence 13

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To the Cat it was almost as if he already had a plump young Mouse under his claws, when an old Rat, who had had much experience with Cats and traps, and had even lost a part of his tail to pay for it, sat up at a safe distance from a hole in the wall where he lived.

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**Who acts:** Cat, had much experience, old Rat, Mouse · **What happens:** have, experience, lose, pay, sit up, live · **To what, where:** plump young Mouse, claws, part

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Cat and the Old Rat. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Cat, had much experience, old Rat, Mouse), 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:pg19994:131:13
# text = To the Cat it was almost as if he already had a plump young Mouse under his claws, when an old Rat, who had had much experience with Cats and traps, and had even lost a part of his tail to pay for it, sat up at a safe distance from a hole in the wall where he lived.
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	advmod	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	already	already	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	plump	plump	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	under	under	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	Rat	Rat	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	amod	_	_
28	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	experience	experience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	Cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	traps	trap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	even	even	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	conj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	_
46	for	for	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
50	up	up	ADP	RP	_	49	compound:prt	_	_
51	at	at	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
55	from	from	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nmod	_	_
61	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	63	advmod	_	_
62	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
63	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Cat | a plump young Mouse and had much experience |  | Mouse's claws |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouse=Patient |
| 2 | **have** | past · perfect | had much experience |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **experience** |  | a old Rat |  |  |  |  | with Cats and traps | tree rules |
| 4 | **lose** | past · perfect | Cat *not said here* | a part of Mouse's tail |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Eventuality |
| 5 | **pay** | to-infinitive | Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for bin | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for it=Theme |
| 6 | **sit up** | past | Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at a safe distance from a hole in the wall | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at distance=Location |
| 7 | **live** | past | Mouse |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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