---
title: This answer took the Dolphin by surprise, and, turning his head, he… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: This answer took the Dolphin by surprise, and, turning his head, he now saw what it was he was carrying. Who acts: answer. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Monkey and the Dolphin, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Monkey and the Dolphin, sentence 17

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This answer took the Dolphin by surprise, and, turning his head, he now saw what it was he was carrying.

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**Who acts:** answer · **What happens:** take, turn, see, carry · **To what, where:** Dolphin, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Monkey and the Dolphin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (answer), 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:pg19994:61:17
# text = This answer took the Dolphin by surprise, and, turning his head, he now saw what it was he was carrying.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Dolphin	Dolphin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
17	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	nsubj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | this answer |  | the Dolphin |  |  | by surprise | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument dolphin=Destination |
| 2 | **turn** | gerund | this answer *not said here* | answer's head |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | answer |  |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **carry** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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