---
title: As the conversation began to flag, the Thief yawned terribly and at… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: As the conversation began to flag, the Thief yawned terribly and at the same time howled like a wolf. Who acts: conversation, Thief. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 9, sentence 46

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As the conversation began to flag, the Thief yawned terribly and at the same time howled like a wolf.

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**Who acts:** conversation, Thief · **What happens:** begin, yawn, howl · **To what, where:** flag

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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 (conversation, Thief), 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:pg21:11:46
# text = As the conversation began to flag, the Thief yawned terribly and at the same time howled like a wolf.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	flag	flag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	yawned	yawn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
17	howled	howl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
18	like	like	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the conversation | flag |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flag=Eventuality |
| 2 | **yawn** | past | the Thief |  |  |  |  | terribly *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **howl** | participle | the Thief *not said here* |  |  |  | time | like a wolf | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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