--- title: The Thief laid hold of his coat and entreated him to stop, saying, “… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics description: The Thief laid hold of his coat and entreated him to stop, saying, “Pray wait, sir, and hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces in my fury, when I turn into a wolf.” Who acts: Thief, my. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 9, with its dependency tree a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/52/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Three hundred Aesop’s fables](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/) / [Aesop’s Fables, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/) / 52 # Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 9, sentence 52 The Thief laid hold of his coat and entreated him to stop, saying, “Pray wait, sir, and hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces in my fury, when I turn into a wolf.” **Who acts:** Thief, my · **What happens:** lay, entreat, stop, say, pray, hold · **To what, where:** hold, Innkeeper, wait, clothes, wolf, coat · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, my), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg21:11:52 # text = The Thief laid hold of his coat and entreated him to stop, saying, “Pray wait, sir, and hold my clothes, or I shall tear them to pieces in my fury, when I turn into a wolf.” 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 Thief Thief PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 laid lay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 5 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 coat coat NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nmod _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 entreated entreat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 10 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obj _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 stop stop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 14 saying say VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 12 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 “ " PUNCT `` _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 Pray pray VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 ccomp _ _ 18 wait wait NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 20 sir sir NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 hold hold VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 24 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 clothes clothes NOUN NNS Number=Ptan 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 27 or or CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 28 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 29 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 tear tear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 conj _ _ 31 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ _ 34 in in ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 fury fury NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 40 advmod _ _ 39 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 turn turn VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 41 into into ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 wolf wolf NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lay** | past | the Thief | hold of Innkeeper's coat | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **entreat** | past | the Thief *not said here* | | Innkeeper | | | | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 3 | **stop** | to-infinitive | the Thief *not said here* | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the Thief *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **pray** *in a quote* | infinitive | | wait and sir | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **hold** *in a quote* | infinitive | | my clothes | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clothes=Theme | | 7 | **tear** *in a quote* | shall | the Thief *= thief* | clothes | | | | to pieces in my fury *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent they=Patient to piece=Result | | 8 | **turn** *in a quote* | present | the Thief *= thief* | | | a wolf | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into wolf=Trajectory | | 9 | **hold** | | | Innkeeper's coat | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient | | 10 | **infuriate** *in a quote* | | my | | | | | | nom fury «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/53/) - ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/11/)