---
title: Then said the Wolf: “May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight;… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said the Wolf: “May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight; for the weight of this chain is enough to spoil the appetite.” A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 6, sentence 12

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Then said the Wolf: “May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight; for the weight of this chain is enough to spoil the appetite.”

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**What happens:** say, be, spoil · **To what, where:** Wolf, plight, appetite · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg21:8:12
# text = Then said the Wolf: “May no friend of mine ever be in such a plight; for the weight of this chain is enough to spoil the appetite.”
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	May	May	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod	_	_
12	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	17	advmod	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	17	det:predet	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	plight	plight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
24	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	spoil	spoil	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	appetite	appetite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the Wolf |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  | such plight | ever |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | for the weight of this chain; enough *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **spoil** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | the appetite |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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