---
title: The father died, and no sooner was he in his grave than the sons set… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: The father died, and no sooner was he in his grave than the sons set to work digging with all their might, turning up every foot of ground with their spades, and going over the whole farm two or three times. Who acts: father, sons. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Farmer and His 
---

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# The Aesop for Children, The Farmer and His Sons, sentence 7

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The father died, and no sooner was he in his grave than the sons set to work digging with all their might, turning up every foot of ground with their spades, and going over the whole farm two or three times.

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**Who acts:** father, sons · **What happens:** die, be, set, work, dig, turn up · **To what, where:** grave, foot, whole farm

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, The Farmer and His Sons. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, sons), 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:pg19994:80:7
# text = The father died, and no sooner was he in his grave than the sons set to work digging with all their might, turning up every foot of ground with their spades, and going over the whole farm two or three times.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	12	advmod	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
13	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	set	set	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	digging	dig	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	xcomp	_	_
20	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	23	det:predet	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	conj	_	_
26	up	up	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	det	_	_
28	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	spades	spade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
37	over	over	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
41	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nummod	_	_
42	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	41	conj	_	_
44	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past | the father |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **is** | past | father |  |  | father's grave |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **set** | present | the sons |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **work** | to-infinitive | the sons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **dig** | gerund | the sons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **turn up** | gerund | the sons *not said here* | every foot of ground |  |  |  | with sons's spades | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent foot=Patient with spade=Instrument |
| 7 | **go** | gerund | the father *not said here* |  |  | the whole farm | time |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme over farm=Initial\_Location |

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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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