---
title: But he could not keep away from that field, for it is hard to resist… — The Aesop for Children · tree and pragmatics
description: But he could not keep away from that field, for it is hard to resist watching a good meal, even when there is little chance of getting it. Who acts: Lion, little chance. A sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, Three Bullocks and a Lion, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Aesop for Children, Three Bullocks and a Lion, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But he could not keep away from that field, for it is hard to resist watching a good meal, even when there is little chance of getting it.

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**Who acts:** Lion, little chance · **What happens:** not keep away, be, resist, watch, get · **To what, where:** field, good meal, little chance, meal

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This is a sentence of «The Aesop for Children» by Aesop, Three Bullocks and a Lion. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lion, little chance), 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:pg19994:92:4
# text = But he could not keep away from that field, for it is hard to resist watching a good meal, even when there is little chance of getting it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	expl	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	resist	resist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	xcomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	even	even	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
24	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	25	expl	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
28	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **keep away** | could | Lion |  |  | that field |  | away *property* | vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer from field=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | present | Lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **resist** | to-infinitive | Lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **watch** | gerund | Lion *not said here* | a good meal |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meal=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | little chance |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** | gerund | little chance *not said here* | meal |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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