--- title: The Dolphin replied, “Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, whic… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics description: The Dolphin replied, “Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, which, while giving me the sovereignty of the sea, has quite denied me the power of living upon the land.” Who acts: Dolphin, friend, power. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 5, with its depende --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/7/69/) [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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/7/) / 69 # Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 5, sentence 69 The Dolphin replied, “Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, which, while giving me the sovereignty of the sea, has quite denied me the power of living upon the land.” **Who acts:** Dolphin, friend, power · **What happens:** reply, not blame, give, deny, live · **To what, where:** Dolphin, sovereignty, land · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dolphin, friend, power), 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:pg21:7:69 # text = The Dolphin replied, “Nay, my friend, blame not me, but Nature, which, while giving me the sovereignty of the sea, has quite denied me the power of living upon the land.” 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 Dolphin Dolphin PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 5 “ " PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 Nay nay INTJ UH _ 11 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 11 blame blame VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 12 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 11 advmod _ _ 13 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 Nature Nature PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 18 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 20 while while SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 21 giving give VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 11 advcl _ _ 22 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 21 iobj _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 sovereignty sovereignty NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 30 quite quite ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 denied deny VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 parataxis _ _ 32 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 obj _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 power power NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 35 of of SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 36 living live VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 34 acl _ _ 37 upon upon ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ” " PUNCT '' _ 31 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the Dolphin | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **not** **blame** *in a quote* | infinitive | my friend | the Dolphin *= dolphin* | | | | Nature *obl* | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **give** *in a quote* | gerund | my friend *not said here* | the sovereignty of the sea | the Dolphin *= dolphin* | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient sovereignty=Theme | | 4 | **deny** *in a quote* | present · perfect | | the Dolphin *= dolphin* | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme power=Eventuality | | 5 | **live** *in a quote* | gerund | the power *not said here* | | | the land | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon land=Location | 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 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/7/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/7/70/) - ↑ back to [Aesop’s Fables, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg21/7/)