---
title: As he was crossing through the water he lost his footing, stumbled a… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: As he was crossing through the water he lost his footing, stumbled and fell, and not being able to rise on account of his load, groaned heavily. Who acts: Ass. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 8, sentence 58

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As he was crossing through the water he lost his footing, stumbled and fell, and not being able to rise on account of his load, groaned heavily.

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**Who acts:** Ass · **What happens:** cross, lose, stumble, fall, not be, rise · **To what, where:** water, footing, account, load

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ass), 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:pg21:10:58
# text = As he was crossing through the water he lost his footing, stumbled and fell, and not being able to rise on account of his load, groaned heavily.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	footing	footing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	stumbled	stumble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
19	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	cop	_	_
20	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	ccomp	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	rise	rise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	load	load	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	groaned	groan	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
30	heavily	heavily	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** | past · progressive | Ass |  |  | the water |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through water=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **lose** | past | Ass | Ass's footing |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent footing=Eventuality |
| 3 | **stumble** | participle |  | Ass's footing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fall** | past | Ass *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **is** | gerund | Ass *not said here* |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **rise** | to-infinitive | Ass *not said here* |  |  | account of Ass's load |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on account=Location |
| 7 | **groan** | past | Ass *not said here* |  |  |  |  | heavily *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **account** |  |  | Ass's load |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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:** «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 21 (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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