---
title: So one day he climbed up on a shelf and hung from it, head downward,… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: So one day he climbed up on a shelf and hung from it, head downward, as if he were dead, holding himself up by clinging to some ropes with one paw. Who acts: Cat. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Cat and the Old Rat, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Cat and the Old Rat, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So one day he climbed up on a shelf and hung from it, head downward, as if he were dead, holding himself up by clinging to some ropes with one paw.

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**Who acts:** Cat · **What happens:** climb up, hang, be, hold up, cling · **To what, where:** shelf, head, Cat

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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), 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:pg19994:131:4
# text = So one day he climbed up on a shelf and hung from it, head downward, as if he were dead, holding himself up by clinging to some ropes with one paw.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	shelf	shelf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	downward	downward	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
25	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	24	obj	_	_
26	up	up	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
27	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
28	clinging	cling	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	det	_	_
31	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	34	nummod	_	_
34	paw	paw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb up** | past | Cat |  |  | a shelf | day |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on shelf=Trajectory |
| 2 | **hang** | past | Cat *not said here* | head |  | shelf |  | downward *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Cat |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hold up** | gerund | Cat *not said here* | Cat |  |  |  |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot himself=Theme |
| 5 | **cling** | gerund | Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to some ropes; with one paw | vn cling-22.5 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to rope=Co-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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