---
title: At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Who acts: Mice, way, Cat. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, Belling the Cat, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Aesop for Children, Belling the Cat, sentence 2

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At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away.

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**Who acts:** Mice, way, Cat · **What happens:** wish, find, know, come, have, run away · **To what, where:** least, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, Belling the Cat. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mice, way, Cat), 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:pg19994:8:2
# text = At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	obl	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
20	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl	_	_
23	away	away	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | past | Mice *= mouse* |  |  | least |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **find** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Mice *= mouse* *not said here* | some way |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |
| 3 | **know** | gerund | some way *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **come** | past · progressive | Cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | might | Mice *= mouse* |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **run away** | to-infinitive | Mice *= mouse* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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