---
title: Not being able to reach them, they agreed to drink up the river, but… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: Not being able to reach them, they agreed to drink up the river, but it happened that they burst themselves with drinking long before they reached the hides. Who acts: Dogs, it. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, sentence 120

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Not being able to reach them, they agreed to drink up the river, but it happened that they burst themselves with drinking long before they reached the hides.

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**Who acts:** Dogs, it · **What happens:** not be, reach, agree, drink up, happen, burst · **To what, where:** Dogs, river, hides

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dogs, it), 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:pg21:14:120
# text = Not being able to reach them, they agreed to drink up the river, but it happened that they burst themselves with drinking long before they reached the hides.
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
2	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	cop	_	_
3	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
22	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
25	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
26	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	hides	hide	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | Dogs *= dog* |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | Dogs *= dog* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **drink up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Dogs *= dog* *not said here* | the river |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Patient |
| 5 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **burst** | past | Dogs *= dog* | Dogs *= dog* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location themselves=Theme |
| 7 | **drink** | gerund | Dogs *= dog* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **reach** | past | Dogs *= dog* | the hides |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent hide=Theme |

<!-- .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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