--- title: For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, chased them… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics description: For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, chased them away by the terror he inspired; but when the birds found that the sling was only swung in the air, they ceased to take any notice of it and would not move. Who acts: Farmer, oxen, birds. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/4/60/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Three hundred Aesop’s fables](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/) / [Aesop’s Fables, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/4/) / 60 # Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 2, sentence 60 For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, chased them away by the terror he inspired; but when the birds found that the sling was only swung in the air, they ceased to take any notice of it and would not move. **Who acts:** Farmer, oxen, birds · **What happens:** brandish, chase away, inspire, find, swing, cease · **To what, where:** empty sling, Farmer, terror, sling, air, notice · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Farmer, oxen, birds), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg21:4:60 # text = For a long time the Farmer, brandishing an empty sling, chased them away by the terror he inspired; but when the birds found that the sling was only swung in the air, they ceased to take any notice of it and would not move. 1 For for ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 Farmer Farmer PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 8 brandishing brandish VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 6 acl _ _ 9 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 empty empty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 sling sling NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 13 chased chase VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 14 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 away away ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 16 by by ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 terror terror NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 inspired inspire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT : _ 38 punct _ _ 22 but but CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 23 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 26 advmod _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 birds bird NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nsubj _ _ 26 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 advcl _ _ 27 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 sling sling NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux:pass _ _ 31 only only ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 swung swing VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 ccomp _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 37 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 ceased cease VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 41 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 42 det _ _ 42 notice notice NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 43 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nmod _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 46 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 47 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 48 advmod _ _ 48 move move VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **brandish** | gerund | the Farmer *not said here* | a empty sling | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **chase away** | past | | Farmer | | | time | by the terror; away *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme by terror=Trajectory | | 3 | **inspire** | past | oxen | the terror *not said here* | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus terror=Experiencer | | 4 | **find** | past | the birds | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 5 | **swing** | past · passive | | the sling | | the air | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: subject=Theme in air=Location | | 6 | **cease** | past | Farmer | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **take** | to-infinitive | Farmer *not said here* | any notice of sling | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent notice=Theme | | 8 | **not** **move** | would | Farmer *not said here* | | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **notice** | | | sling | | | | | nom notice «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/4/59/) - next →: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/4/61/) - ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/4/)