---
title: A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said,… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, “Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?” Who acts: MAN. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 13, sentence 138

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, “Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?”

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**Who acts:** MAN · **What happens:** catch, say, be, feed, cost · **To what, where:** friend, last, much trouble, me, you · **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 (MAN), 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:pg21:15:138
# text = A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, “Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?”
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	MAN	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	annoyed	annoyed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	acl:relcl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Flea	Flea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	dare	dare	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	limbs	limb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	cost	cost	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
34	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
38	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
39	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
40	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | a MAN | friend |  | last |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Theme at last=Asset |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | dare *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **feed** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | on my limbs | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent on limb=Patient |
| 5 | **cost** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | much trouble | me |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme i=Beneficiary trouble=Value |
| 6 | **catch** *in a quote* | gerund |  | you |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=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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