---
title: The Ox saw what was being done, and said with a smile to the Heifer:… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Ox saw what was being done, and said with a smile to the Heifer: “For this you were allowed to live in idleness, because you were presently to be sacrificed.” Who acts: Ox, this. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/6/15/)

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 4, sentence 15

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The Ox saw what was being done, and said with a smile to the Heifer: “For this you were allowed to live in idleness, because you were presently to be sacrificed.”

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**Who acts:** Ox, this · **What happens:** see, do, say, allow, live, sacrifice · **To what, where:** this, idleness, 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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ox, this), 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:pg21:6:15
# text = The Ox saw what was being done, and said with a smile to the Heifer: “For this you were allowed to live in idleness, because you were presently to be sacrificed.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	smile	smile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Heifer	Heifer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	For	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	idleness	idleness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
29	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
32	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	sacrificed	sacrifice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the Ox |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | with a smile to the Heifer | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent with smile=Manner |
| 4 | **allow** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **live** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | this *not said here* |  |  | idleness |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in idleness=Location |
| 6 | **sacrifice** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | you |  |  |  | presently *property* | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme |

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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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