---
title: They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did noth… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did nothing but sit around croaking in a bored manner and wishing for a government that could entertain them with the pomp and display of royalty, and rule them in a way to make them know they were being ruled. Who acts: Frogs, government. 
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Frogs Who Wished For a King, sentence 2

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They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did nothing but sit around croaking in a bored manner and wishing for a government that could entertain them with the pomp and display of royalty, and rule them in a way to make them know they were being ruled.

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**Who acts:** Frogs, government · **What happens:** have, spoil, do, sit around, croak, wish · **To what, where:** much freedom, freedom, nothing, bored manner, Frogs, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Frogs Who Wished For a King. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Frogs, government), 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:pg19994:27:2
# text = They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did nothing but sit around croaking in a bored manner and wishing for a government that could entertain them with the pomp and display of royalty, and rule them in a way to make them know they were being ruled.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	freedom	freedom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	spoiled	spoil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	14	obj	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	sit	sit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
18	around	around	ADP	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	croaking	croak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	bored	bored	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	wishing	wish	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	entertain	entertain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl:relcl	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	pomp	pomp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	display	display	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	royalty	royalty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	rule	rule	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
43	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	advcl	_	_
49	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux:pass	_	_
53	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	ruled	rule	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Frogs *= frog* | much freedom |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent freedom=Patient |
| 2 | **spoil** | past · perfect · passive |  | freedom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | past | Frogs *= frog* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality |
| 4 | **sit around** | present | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **croak** | gerund | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* |  |  | a bored manner |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **wish** | gerund | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a government | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for government=Theme |
| 7 | **entertain** | could | a government | Frogs *= frog* |  |  |  | with the pomp and display of royalty | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 8 | **rule** | infinitive | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* | Frogs *= frog* |  | a way |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 9 | **make** | to-infinitive | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* | Frogs *= frog* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **know** | infinitive | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 11 | **rule** | past · passive |  | Frogs *= frog* |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 12 | **display** |  |  | royalty |  |  |  |  | nom display «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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