---
title: A Raven, which you know is black as coal, was envious of the Swan, b… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: A Raven, which you know is black as coal, was envious of the Swan, because her feathers were as white as the purest snow. Who acts: you, Raven, feathers. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, A Raven and a Swan, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Aesop for Children, A Raven and a Swan, sentence 1

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A Raven, which you know is black as coal, was envious of the Swan, because her feathers were as white as the purest snow.

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**Who acts:** you, Raven, feathers · **What happens:** know, be · **To what, where:** Raven

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, A Raven and a Swan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, Raven, feathers), 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:pg19994:36:1
# text = A Raven, which you know is black as coal, was envious of the Swan, because her feathers were as white as the purest snow.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	coal	coal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	envious	envious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Swan	Swan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	purest	pure	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	amod	_	_
27	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | you | a Raven |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | present | a Raven |  |  |  |  | as coal; black *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | a Raven *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the Swan; envious *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | her feathers |  |  |  |  | as the purest snow; white *property* | tree rules |

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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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