---
title: “I will tell you,” said the Thief, “but first let me ask you to hold… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: “I will tell you,” said the Thief, “but first let me ask you to hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces. Who acts: 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 48

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“I will tell you,” said the Thief, “but first let me ask you to hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces.

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**Who acts:** Thief · **What happens:** tell, say, let, ask, hold, tear · **To what, where:** you, Thief, clothes · **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 (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:pg21:11:48
# text = “I will tell you,” said the Thief, “but first let me ask you to hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	15	advmod	_	_
15	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	iobj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | future | the Thief *= thief* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Thief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the Thief *= thief* |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | infinitive | the Thief *= thief* *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **hold** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the Thief *= thief* *not said here* | my clothes |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clothes=Theme |
| 6 | **tear** *in a quote* | shall | the Thief *= thief* | Thief |  |  |  | to pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent they=Patient to piece=Result |

<!-- .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:** «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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