---
title: A certain man who visited foreign lands could talk of little when he… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: A certain man who visited foreign lands could talk of little when he returned to his home except the wonderful adventures he had met with and the great deeds he had done abroad. Who acts: certain man, man. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Leap At Rhodes, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Leap At Rhodes, sentence 1

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A certain man who visited foreign lands could talk of little when he returned to his home except the wonderful adventures he had met with and the great deeds he had done abroad.

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**Who acts:** certain man, man · **What happens:** visit, talk, return, meet, do · **To what, where:** foreign lands, wonderful adventures, great deeds

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Leap At Rhodes. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (certain man, man), 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:pg19994:40:1
# text = A certain man who visited foreign lands could talk of little when he returned to his home except the wonderful adventures he had met with and the great deeds he had done abroad.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	visited	visit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	except	except	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	adventures	adventure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	met	meet	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	acl:relcl	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	deeds	deed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	conj	_	_
33	abroad	abroad	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **visit** | past | a certain man | foreign lands |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **talk** | could | a certain man |  |  |  |  | of little | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **return** | past | man |  |  |  |  | to man's home *result*; except the wonderful adventures | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to home=Result |
| 4 | **meet** | past · perfect | man | the wonderful adventures *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent adventure=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **do** | past · perfect · passive |  | the great deeds |  |  |  | abroad *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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