---
title: The Fowler replied, “I shall now with less scruple take your life, b… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Fowler replied, “I shall now with less scruple take your life, because you are willing to save it at the cost of betraying your friends and relations.” Who acts: Fowler, you, cost. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, sentence 136

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The Fowler replied, “I shall now with less scruple take your life, because you are willing to save it at the cost of betraying your friends and relations.”

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**Who acts:** Fowler, you, cost · **What happens:** reply, take, be, save, betray · **To what, where:** life, cost, friends · **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 (Fowler, you, cost), 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:pg21:15:136
# text = The Fowler replied, “I shall now with less scruple take your life, because you are willing to save it at the cost of betraying your friends and relations.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fowler	fowler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
8	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	amod	_	_
11	scruple	scruple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
12	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
13	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	cost	cost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	betraying	betray	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	_
28	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	relations	relation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the Fowler |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** *in a quote* | shall |  | your life |  |  |  | with less scruple | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | willing *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **save** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | life |  | the cost |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent it=Theme at cost=Asset |
| 5 | **betray** *in a quote* | gerund | the cost *not said here* | your friends and relations |  |  |  |  | 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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