---
title: A GNAT came and said to a Lion, “I do not in the least fear you, nor… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: A GNAT came and said to a Lion, “I do not in the least fear you, nor are you stronger than I am. Who acts: GNAT, you. 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 64

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A GNAT came and said to a Lion, “I do not in the least fear you, nor are you stronger than I am.

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**Who acts:** GNAT, you · **What happens:** come, say, be · **To what, where:** Lion · **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 (GNAT, you), 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:pg21:11:64
# text = A GNAT came and said to a Lion, “I do not in the least fear you, nor are you stronger than I am.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	GNAT	gnat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Lion	Lion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
12	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	17	amod	_	_
17	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	parataxis	_	_
24	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a GNAT |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a GNAT *not said here* |  | a Lion |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to lion=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | 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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