---
title: A YOUNG FAWN once said to his Mother, “You are larger than a dog, an… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: A YOUNG FAWN once said to his Mother, “You are larger than a dog, and swifter, and more used to running, and you have your horns as a defense; why, then, O Mother! do the hounds frighten you so?” Who acts: YOUNG FAWN, Mother. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, par
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 1, sentence 112

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A YOUNG FAWN once said to his Mother, “You are larger than a dog, and swifter, and more used to running, and you have your horns as a defense; why, then, O Mother! do the hounds frighten you so?”

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**Who acts:** YOUNG FAWN, Mother · **What happens:** say, be, run, have, do, frighten · **To what, where:** Mother, horns, hounds · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (YOUNG FAWN, Mother), 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:pg21:3:112
# text = A YOUNG FAWN once said to his Mother, “You are larger than a dog, and swifter, and more used to running, and you have your horns as a defense; why, then, O Mother! do the hounds frighten you so?”
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	YOUNG	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	FAWN	fawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	Mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	swifter	swifter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	23	amod	_	_
23	used	used	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
24	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
30	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	defense	defense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	41	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	O	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	41	case	_	_
41	Mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	_
43	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl:relcl	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	hounds	hound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	_
46	frighten	frighten	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
47	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	so	so	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | a YOUNG FAWN |  | calf's Mother |  |  | once *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to mother=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | calf's Mother *= mother* |  |  |  |  | than a dog and swifter; large *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **run** *in a quote* | gerund | a YOUNG FAWN *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **have** *in a quote* | present | calf's Mother *= mother* | your horns |  |  |  | as a defense | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horn=Patient |
| 5 | **do** *in a quote* | present | Mother *not said here* | the hounds |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hound=Eventuality |
| 6 | **frighten** *in a quote* | present | Mother | calf's Mother *= mother* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus you=Experiencer |

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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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