---
title: The Fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the Ass if the Lion would pledge his word not to harm the Fox. Who acts: Fox, Lion. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 1, sentence 119

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The Fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the Ass if the Lion would pledge his word not to harm the Fox.

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**Who acts:** Fox, Lion · **What happens:** see, approach, promise, contrive, pledge, not harm · **To what, where:** imminent danger, Lion, capture, word, Fox, Ass

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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 (Fox, Lion), 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:pg21:3:119
# text = The Fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the Ass if the Lion would pledge his word not to harm the Fox.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	imminent	imminent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Lion	Lion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	contrive	contrive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	capture	capture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	Lion	Lion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	pledge	pledge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | the Fox *not said here* | imminent danger |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer danger=Stimulus |
| 2 | **approach** | past | the Fox | the Lion |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lion=Theme |
| 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | the Fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **contrive** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Fox *not said here* | the capture of the Ass |  |  |  | for Fox | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent capture=Result for he=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **pledge** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | the Lion | Fox's word |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **harm** | to-infinitive | the Lion *not said here* | the Fox |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus fox=Experiencer |
| 7 | **capture** |  |  | the Ass |  |  |  |  | nom capture «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **word** |  | Fox |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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