---
title: On their saying, “Father, what kind of bird is it?” he replied, “To… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: On their saying, “Father, what kind of bird is it?” he replied, “To my certain knowledge he is a Daw; but he would like you to think an Eagle.” Who acts: Father, wings. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, sentence 74

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On their saying, “Father, what kind of bird is it?” he replied, “To my certain knowledge he is a Daw; but he would like you to think an Eagle.”

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**Who acts:** Father, wings · **What happens:** be, reply, like, think, say · **To what, where:** kind, saying, Daw, you, Eagle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Father, wings), 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:pg21:14:74
# text = On their saying, “Father, what kind of bird is it?” he replied, “To my certain knowledge he is a Daw; but he would like you to think an Eagle.”
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	9	det	_	_
9	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	To	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	Daw	daw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	Eagle	Eagle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	32	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | kind |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: ask* | past | Father |  |  | wings's saying |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Father | a Daw |  |  |  | to my certain knowledge | tree rules |
| 4 | **like** *in a quote* | would | Father | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | Father *not said here* | a Eagle |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot eagle=Theme |
| 6 | **say** |  | wings *= wing* |  |  |  |  |  | nom saying «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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