--- title: He managed by a skillful handling of his net to retain all the large… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics description: He managed by a skillful handling of his net to retain all the large fish and to draw them to the shore; but he could not prevent the smaller fish from falling back through the meshes of the net into the sea. Who acts: acquaintance. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fabl --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/125/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/) / 125 # Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 4, sentence 125 He managed by a skillful handling of his net to retain all the large fish and to draw them to the shore; but he could not prevent the smaller fish from falling back through the meshes of the net into the sea. **Who acts:** acquaintance · **What happens:** manage, retain, draw, not prevent, fall back, handle · **To what, where:** large fish, Nets, shore, smaller fish, meshes, net This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (acquaintance), 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:pg21:6:125 # text = He managed by a skillful handling of his net to retain all the large fish and to draw them to the shore; but he could not prevent the smaller fish from falling back through the meshes of the net into the sea. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 managed manage VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 by by ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 skillful skillful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 handling handling NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 net net NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 retain retain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 xcomp _ _ 12 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 15 det:predet _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 draw draw VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 conj _ _ 19 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 shore shore NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT : _ 2 punct _ _ 24 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 26 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 27 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 28 advmod _ _ 28 prevent prevent VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 conj _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 smaller small ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 31 amod _ _ 31 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 32 from from SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 33 falling fall VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 28 advcl _ _ 34 back back ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 35 through through ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 meshes mesh NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obl _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 net net NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 41 into into ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **manage** | past | acquaintance | | | | | by a skillful handling of acquaintance's net | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **retain** | to-infinitive | acquaintance *not said here* | all large fish | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **draw** | to-infinitive | acquaintance *not said here* | Nets *= net* | | the shore | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme to shore=Destination | | 4 | **not** **prevent** | could | acquaintance | the smaller fish | | | | | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer fish=Theme | | 5 | **fall back** | gerund | acquaintance *not said here* | | | the meshes of the net | | into the sea | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme through mesh=Initial\_Location into sea=Destination | | 6 | **handle** | | | acquaintance's net | | | | | nom handling «act 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 124](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/124/) - next →: [sentence 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/126/) - ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/)