---
title: The foolish bird got the idea that if he lived like the Swan, swimmi… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: The foolish bird got the idea that if he lived like the Swan, swimming and diving all day long and eating the weeds and plants that grow in the water, his feathers would turn white like the Swan's. Who acts: foolish bird, bird, plants, feathers. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, A Rav
---

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# The Aesop for Children, A Raven and a Swan, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The foolish bird got the idea that if he lived like the Swan, swimming and diving all day long and eating the weeds and plants that grow in the water, his feathers would turn white like the Swan's.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** foolish bird, bird, plants, feathers · **What happens:** get, live, dive, eat, grow, turn · **To what, where:** idea, weeds, water

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (foolish bird, bird, plants, feathers), 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:pg19994:36:2
# text = The foolish bird got the idea that if he lived like the Swan, swimming and diving all day long and eating the weeds and plants that grow in the water, his feathers would turn white like the Swan's.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Swan	swan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	swimming	swimming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	diving	dive	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
18	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	weeds	weed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	conj	_	_
27	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
28	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
37	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	_
38	like	like	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	Swan	Swan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	's	's	PART	POS	_	40	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | the foolish bird | the idea |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer idea=Stimulus |
| 2 | **live** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | bird |  |  |  |  | like the Swan and swimming | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **dive** | gerund | bird *not said here* |  |  |  | day | long *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **eat** | gerund | bird *not said here* | the weeds and plants |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent weed=Patient |
| 5 | **grow** | present | plants |  |  | the water |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location |
| 6 | **turn** | would | bird's feathers |  |  |  |  | like the Swan; white *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme 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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