---
title: After a time he observed that the Elephant shook his ears very often… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: After a time he observed that the Elephant shook his ears very often, and he inquired what was the matter and why his ears moved with such a tremor every now and then. Who acts: courage, Elephant, ears. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, with its dependen
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, sentence 111

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After a time he observed that the Elephant shook his ears very often, and he inquired what was the matter and why his ears moved with such a tremor every now and then.

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**Who acts:** courage, Elephant, ears · **What happens:** observe, shake, inquire, be, move · **To what, where:** ears, matter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (courage, Elephant, ears), 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:pg21:15:111
# text = After a time he observed that the Elephant shook his ears very often, and he inquired what was the matter and why his ears moved with such a tremor every now and then.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Elephant	Elephant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	often	often	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	30	det:predet	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	tremor	tremor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	conj	_	_
32	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **observe** | past | courage |  |  |  | time |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **shake** | past | the Elephant | courage's ears |  |  |  | often *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent ear=Patient |
| 3 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | courage |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | the matter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **move** | past | courage's ears |  |  |  | now | with such tremor | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

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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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