---
title: The Mice thought that the cause of their frequent defeats was that t… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: The Mice thought that the cause of their frequent defeats was that they had no leaders set apart from the general army to command them, and that they were exposed to dangers from lack of discipline. Who acts: Mice, cause. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 5,
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 5, sentence 97

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The Mice thought that the cause of their frequent defeats was that they had no leaders set apart from the general army to command them, and that they were exposed to dangers from lack of discipline.

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**Who acts:** Mice, cause · **What happens:** think, be, set apart, command, expose, cause · **To what, where:** cause, general army, Mice, dangers, lack, frequent defeats · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Mice, cause), 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:pg21:7:97
# text = The Mice thought that the cause of their frequent defeats was that they had no leaders set apart from the general army to command them, and that they were exposed to dangers from lack of discipline.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
9	frequent	frequent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	defeats	defeat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	leaders	leader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
18	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	command	command	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	exposed	expose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	dangers	danger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	discipline	discipline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the Mice |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | Mice *= mouse* | the cause of Mice's frequent defeats *not said here* |  |  |  | have *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **set apart** | past | the cause of Mice's frequent defeats |  |  | the general army |  | apart *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **command** | to-infinitive | the cause of Mice's frequent defeats *not said here* | Mice *= mouse* |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 5 | **expose** | past · passive |  | Mice *= mouse* | dangers | lack of discipline |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to danger=Recipient |
| 6 | **cause** |  |  | Mice's frequent defeats |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **defeat** |  | Mice *= mouse* |  |  |  |  |  | nom defeat «event transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **lack** |  |  | discipline |  |  |  |  | nom lack «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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