---
title: The Fox replied, “You have chosen a most appropriate subject for you… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Fox replied, “You have chosen a most appropriate subject for your falsehoods, as I am sure none of your ancestors will be able to contradict you.” Who acts: Fox, You, none. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/113/)

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 9, sentence 113

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The Fox replied, “You have chosen a most appropriate subject for your falsehoods, as I am sure none of your ancestors will be able to contradict you.”

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**Who acts:** Fox, You, none · **What happens:** reply, choose, be, contradict · **To what, where:** appropriate subject, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fox, You, none), 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:pg21:11:113
# text = The Fox replied, “You have chosen a most appropriate subject for your falsehoods, as I am sure none of your ancestors will be able to contradict you.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	11	advmod	_	_
11	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	advcl	_	_
21	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	27	nsubj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	ancestors	ancestor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
27	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	contradict	contradict	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the Fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **choose** *in a quote* | present · perfect | You | a appropriate subject |  |  |  | for your falsehoods | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent subject=Theme for falsehood=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the Fox *= fox* |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | future | none |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **contradict** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | none *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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